Philippines ranks 53rd in digital, AI competitiveness – IMD

“The Philippines faces challenges in restoring growth momentum while managing inflationary pressure from external shocks.”

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines placed 53rd out of 70 economies in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD)’s World Digital and AI (artificial intelligence) Ranking.

The new World Digital and AI Ranking succeeds the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking to measure countries’ and companies’ preparedness to use AI productively and govern it responsibly.

IMD rebuilt the index to reflect AI’s importance in how economies compete and companies operate.

In the previous report, the Philippines ranked 56th overall.

This year’s index looked at five factors: governance, technology and infrastructure, efficiency, workforce development and values.

On governance, the Philippines ranked 57th this year.

As for technology and infrastructure, the country placed 56th.

On efficiency, the Philippines ranked 44th. In workforce development, it placed 58th.

In terms of the values factor, the country ranked 56th.

IMD identified challenges affecting the country’s digital and AI competitiveness.

In particular, it said the Philippines faces challenges in restoring growth momentum while managing inflationary pressure from external shocks.

The economy grew by 2.1 percent in the third quarter, the slowest since the first quarter of 2021. This brought average growth in the first to third quarter to 2.5 percent, below the 3.5 to 4.5 percent growth target for the year.

IMD also said there is a need to ensure timely government responses to food and energy shocks.

Furthermore, it said the Philippines needs to facilitate investments in renewable energy and climate risk mitigation.

IMD also cited the importance of strengthening institutions to address bureaucratic inefficiency and mitigate corruption risks.

Overall, the United States emerged as the leading AI-ready economy. Other economies in the top 10 are Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Sweden, China, Finland, Switzerland and South Korea.