Phl rank in WB survey seen to improve if reforms are implemented – NCC

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines can see its global ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business report to jump to the 38th spot next year from this year’s 138th place, if reforms are completed in four big impact indicators by July 1, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said.

Guillermo Luz, private sector co-chair of the NCC, said at the NCC Dialogues held yesterday that if reforms are completed in the four big impact indicators by July 1 next year, the Philippines could see its ranking improve to 38th place.

In the Doing Business report released in October, the Philippines fell two notches to 138th, from 136th and 134th in the 2012 and 2011 editions, respectively, after failing to show improvements in most processes in the survey.

Luz said certain reforms could be undertaken in the four indicators to see improved rankings.

In terms of starting a business, he said, the country could cut the procedures and number of days to complete the steps to improve its ranking for that indicator.

As for getting credit, the country could set up a mechanism that would improve access to credit information as well as review laws on protecting legal rights of creditors.

For the protecting investors indicator, the country could see a better rank if the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Congress undertakes a review of the Corporate Code of the Philippines.

In terms of resolving insolvency,  there has also been a recommendation to work  on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act of 2010.

Luz said putting focus on a few indicators could lead to greater improvements in the country’s global ranking as opposed to working on reforms on all indicators at the same time.

“We need to target four to six out of 10 indicators. We need to leapfrog...We need to think in that magnitude, otherwise, we will spend a lot of money and time for small change. It’s not worth it,” he said.

He said that for instance, if all reforms are completed in the four big impact indicators, and others such as dealing with construction permits, registering property and paying taxes are completed at a moderate level or not based on benchmarks in the Southeast Asian region, the country’s ranking in the Doing Business report could improve 27 places to the 109th spot by next year.

As the World Bank tracks improvements in countries not just based on putting in place policy reforms but also in terms of the implementation of the changes as well as measurable results, choosing to work on a few indicators could have a bigger impact in overall ranking in the report.

And as the report is released in October, the reforms, implementation of changes and measurable results would have to be made by July.