Philippines suffers worst decline in competitiveness ranking

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines posted its largest year-on-year decline in economic competitiveness in the past decade as it dropped nine notches to 50th spot in this year’s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) rankings of the International Institute of Management Development.

The Philippines fell to the 50th spot out of 63 economies in the 2018 WCY rankings from last year’s 41st position, with the country slipping in all four broad categories of the report – economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The nine-notch drop is the country’s worst in the past 10 years, exceeding a four-notch decline recorded in 2014 (42nd) from 2013 (38th).

The 2018 WCY ranked 63 economies based on 258 indicators.

The five most competitive economies in the world remained the same in 2018 as in the previous year, but their order changed, with the US returning to the top spot this year, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The US improved three positions from last year behind its strength in economic performance and infrastructure, while Hong Kong dropped one spot.

The bottom five economies, meanwhile, were Venezuela, Mongolia, Croatia, Brazil and Ukraine.

Among 14 Asia-Pacific economies, the Philippines saw its position slip to 13th this year from 11th last year.

“The Philippines experiences the most significant drop in the region (Southeast Asia), shifting nine places to 50th. The reasons for such a drop include a decline in tourism and employment, the worsening of public finances and a surge in concerns about the education system. Investing in quality infrastructure and strengthening investment in human capital are the key challenges for the Philippines,” the report said.

The country’s rank in the economic performance category plunged to 50th globally in 2018 from 2017’s 26th.

The Philippines also saw its global rank in terms of government efficiency category nosedive to 44th this year from 37th last year.

Rankings in the business efficiency category and infrastructure category also plummeted by 10 and six notches, respectively.