EDITORIAL — Regional laggard in competitiveness

The latest World Competitiveness Ranking is out, with the Philippines seeing an improvement from 51st place out of 69 economies included in the index last year to 47th out of 70 in the 2026 study.

That four-spot improvement is the highest for the country since landing in 45th place in 2020 in the index drawn up by the International Institute for Management Development World Competitiveness Center.

Among the challenges to Philippine competitiveness this year, according to the IMD WCC, are the need to address bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption, improve the quality of education, manage inflationary pressures and restore growth momentum.

Despite the modest improvement, the Philippines remained a regional laggard in competitiveness, ranking 13th out of 15 Asia-Pacific economies, ahead only of Indonesia, which ranked 48th, and Mongolia at 67th.

Perennial achiever Singapore topped the global index with an impressive score of 100 across all four key factors measured: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The Philippines trails by a mile its fellow ASEAN states Malaysia (15th) and Thailand (26th). Even Vietnam has overtaken the Philippines, placing an enviable 27th in terms of competitiveness.

Outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China ranked 12th, Australia 17th, South Korea 21st, Japan 30th, New Zealand 37th and India 44th.

The Philippines has been reminded often enough about the issues that must be addressed. In the IMD Executive Opinion Survey conducted online from February to April this year, which polled 6,900 senior executives worldwide on issues affecting business confidence, those from the Philippines cited corruption and lack of government accountability; the misuse of state funds; poor corporate governance; a growing demand for environmental, social and governance compliance, and the lack of proactive support for companies as they go digital.

Yesterday, multisectoral groups staged the “White Ribbon March,” demanding accountability in the flood control corruption scandal as well as the issues that led to the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Domestic problems have weakened the capability of the nation to respond properly to the Middle East war and other external headwinds. The corruption probe seems to have stalled while President Marcos has resumed his jetsetting even as he orders government agencies to observe austerity measures.

Nations are moving to recover as quickly as they can from the impact of the Middle East conflict. A similar sense of purpose seems to be lacking in the Philippines, and the country risks being left further behind in terms of national competitiveness.