Philippines climbs 4 places in global competitiveness ranking

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines moved up four places to rank 47th out of 70 economies in this year’s International Institute for Management Development (IMD)’s World Competitiveness Ranking, but the country remained among the laggards in Asia-Pacific.

The report showed that the Philippines placed 13th out of 15 Asia-Pacific economies.

It also ranked fourth out of five Southeast Asian economies covered by the report.

Released annually, the report ranks economies using over 250 indicators across four pillars affecting competitiveness: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. 

In the economic performance pillar, the Philippines’ ranking slid to 38th place this year from 33rd in 2025.

For the government efficiency pillar, the Philippines climbed to 45th place this year from 51st last year.

In business efficiency, the Philippines’ ranking also improved to 30th place this year from 46th in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ ranking was unchanged at 60th in terms of infrastructure.

The report identified challenges that need to be addressed in the Philippines. These include restoring growth momentum while managing inflationary pressure from external shocks, as well as ensuring timely government responses.

It also cited the need to strengthen  institutions to address bureaucratic inefficiency and mitigate corruption risks.

The flood control controversy that erupted last year affected investor sentiment in the country.

Arturo Bris, director of the World Competitiveness Center and professor of finance at IMD said that institutional quality “tends to be in the long term, the best predictor of the competitiveness ranking.”

Other challenges cited in the report are access to quality basic education and facilitating investments in renewable energy and climate risk mitigation.

Overall, Singapore topped this year’s World Competitiveness Ranking.

Other economies in the top five are Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Venezuela was this year’s bottom-dweller.