Robust growth catapults Phl 25 notches in business dynamism survey

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines leapfrogged 25 notches to emerge as the 21st most dynamic economy among 60 countries worldwide, according to the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) 2013 released yesterday.

The GDI is an annual research commissioned by UK-based professional consulting firm Grant Thornton that assesses and ranks the dynamism of business growth environment based on five key areas: business operating environment, science & technology, labor & human capital, economics & growth, and financing environment.

It defines dynamism as the changes in an economy over the past 12 months that are likely to lead to a fast rate of future growth.

The index ranked the world’s largest economies by how much their business growth environment improved in 2012.  The top three countries were Australia, Chile and mainland China while Kenya, Algeria and Greece were at the bottom of the list.

Among its Southeast Asian peers, Malaysia and Thailand still ranked higher overall with the former 13th (tied with South Korea) and the latter 19th.

The Philippines, which placed 46th last year, rose to fifth place in terms of labor and human capital. “The boost was driven by labor productivity growth of 5.4 percent. Only in China (7.4 percent) did worker output rise faster in 2012,” Marivic Españo, chair and chief executive officer of Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A), said.

Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A) is the Grant Thornton member firm in the Philippines.

In terms of economics and growth, it moved up 11 places to rank fourth overall.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expansion last year was the third highest among the 60 economies, and private consumption growth – 9.8 percent – was the 10th highest globally.