Aim top 20%

 

With the Philippines having breached the upper third of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report, it is now looking at entering the top 20 percent of the list by 2020, or a jump of at least 18 spots over a period of five years.

According to the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), the key to achieving this new target is the policy direction of the next leader.

 “Moving up into a new neighborhood of competitors means we have to be looking up at the top 20 percent, which means a ranking of 30 or higher in the next five years. Absolutely, everything depends on the next administration, because leadership matters,” the NCC said

The latest Global Competitiveness Report of the WEF placed the Philippines at the 47th spot out of 140 economies, up by 5 notches from 2014’s ranking of 52nd.  This year’s five-spot jump represents the fifth time in a row that the Philippines improved its ranking in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report.

Of the 12 pillars tracked in the report, the Philippines notched improvement in 10 pillars, with the biggest improvements noted in Labor Market Efficiency, Health and Primary Education, Market Size, Business Sophistication, Innovation and Macroeconomic Environment.

The two pillars that registered declines are Institutions and Goods Market Efficiency.

Factors that led to a drop in the country’s ranking in the Institutions pillar were government inefficiency, or red tape, in establishing a business. For the Goods Market Efficiency, a specific area that needs to be improved are customs procedures.

Moving forward, the NCC said it will now focus on lessening the number of procedures to start a business, as well as the number of days to start a business, to respond to the downgrade in the Institutions pillar.