Philippines Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012
The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 reports the Philippines to have posted “one of the largest improvements in the year’s global competitiveness rankings”. According to the report, the country is up 10 places to 75 stating that “the vast majority of individual indicators composing the GCI improve, sometimes markedly. Yet the challenges are many, especially in the areas at the foundation of any competitive economy, even at an early stage of development.”
From 85th place, the Philippines now ranks 75th out of 142 countries, according to the report.
Among the negative points indicated in the report are the poor quality of the country’s public institutions, the issues of corruption and physical security. The report further states that “while the state of infrastructure is improving” it is seen as “not nearly enough to meet the needs of the business sector”. The Philippines ranked 113th for the overall state of infrastructure, with low marks, for the quality of seaports (123rd) and airport infrastructure (115th). Primary education is also characterized by low quality standards. One thing that showed positive result is the country’s macroeconomic situation, which is up 14 places to 54th. This is due to slightly lower public deficit and debt, an improved country credit rating and under control inflation.
The report also showed that the Philippines “continues to have a vast opportunity for improvement particularly the largely inflexible and inefficient labor market, which has shown very little progress over the past four years”.
Positive results were seen in the business sophistication category wherein the country ranked 57th . This is “due to the large quantity of local suppliers, the existence of numerous and well developed clusters, and an increase presence of Filipino businesses in the higher segments of the value chain”.
The Philippines competitive advantage is “the sheer size of the domestic market”, which the country ranked 36th.
Ranking of the Philippines in the Global Competitiveness 2011-2012 Report
- Corruption – 127th
- Physical Security – 117th
- Seaport – 123rd
- Airport – 115th
- Primary education -110th
- Labor Market – 113th
- Competitive Advantage – 36th
- Business Sophistication – 57th
- Macroeconomic Situation – 54th
- Overall State of Infrastructure – 113th
The Global Competitiveness Report is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum, a Swiss non-profit foundation funded by its 1,000 member companies. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The yearly forum brings together the minds of the world’s top business leaders, political leaders, intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues of the world.