Philippines drops nine places in global competitiveness ranking
The Philippines was ranked 50th out of 63 countries in the 2018 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), falling nine points from last year’s ranking. The WCY is published by the International Institute of Management Development with the Manila-based Asian Institute of Management as a partner in the Philippines. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez expressed disbelief about the country’s poor performance in the ranking, especially on economic growth, infrastructure growth and business efficiencies. He said the Philippines has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, and infrastructure improvements have been ongoing. The WCY claims that the Philippines’ Economic Performance ranking dropped from 26th in 2017 to 50th in 2018. Among the sub-categories listed under “Economic Performance”, “Domestic Economy” allegedly had declined from 12th to 24th, “International Trade” from 44th to 52nd, “Employment” from 4th to 32nd, and “International Investment” from 47th to 48th. Only the “Prices” sub-category had improved, up from 52nd to 45th.
