By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Oct. 29 (PNA) — With the efforts of the Philippine government and private sector to improve the business environment in the country, the Philippines has moved up as fifth economy with ease of doing business in Southeast Asian Region.
World Bank Philippines Senior Program Manager Hans Shrader said the Philippines moved up its rank in the ASEAN by one notch — leaving behind Brunei Darussalam with global ranking of 101st; Indonesia at 114th; Cambodia at 138th; Lao PDR at 148th; and Myanmar at 177th.
Surpassing the Philippines in the regional level are: Singapore, which got the highest rank in the global ranking; followed by Malaysia at rank 18th; Thailand at 26th; and Vietnam at 78th.
The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) also announced Wednesday that the Philippines ranked 95th among 189 economies around the world in the Doing Business Report 2015.
Shrader noted that the current ranking of the country went up by 13 notches from its previous unrevised ranking of 108th in the 2014 Report.
The ease of doing business measures regulations in the local economy through 10 indicators affecting the cycle of a business that include: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
It was noted that the Philippines improved its ranking in five areas of doing business and slipped its ranking in other five areas.
The country’s top three global rankings are in the areas of getting electricity at 16th place; resolving insolvency at 50th place; and trading across borders at 65th place.
Despite the trading across borders indicator is among the country’s top ranking, the World Bank and IFC report specified that the truck ban that was implemented in Manila has affected the ease of doing business in the country.
“In the Philippines, trading across borders became more difficult because of a new city ordinance restricting truck traffic in Manila,” the Report noted.
On the other hand, the country’s bottom three rankings include paying taxes at rank 127; protecting investors at rank 154; and starting a business at rank 161.
To further improve the country’s ranking in the next Doing Business Report, Shrader mentioned opportunities for the Philippines to improve such as reducing procedures in business registration and expanding reforms in construction permits, getting credit, protecting minority investors, and enforcing contracts.
Meanwhile, National Competitiveness Council (NCC) Co-Chair for Private Sector Guillermo M. Luz said the Philippines is on-track in achieving its goal of improving its ease of doing business ranking up to the upper third of the report, as well as enhancing the business climate in the country.
Luz noted that the country started at the bottom third in 2011 Report placing at rank 148 among 183 countries.
The Philippines further moved up to rank 136 in the 2012 Report; it slightly slipped to 138th place in the 2013 Report; and leaping by 30 notches in 2014 report to 108, the biggest improvement in the world.
“The Philippines is closer to the frontier this year… And compare to the ranking last year, there is no ambiguity, the Philippines has improved,” said Washington-based World Bank Development Economics-Global Indicators Group Director Augusto Lopez Carlos in a video conference with the Southeast Asian countries also Wednesday.
The World Bank, on the other hand, annually revised the previous report in which the Philippines ranked 86th in the Doing Business Report 2014.
“Doing Business data and rankings are updated annually and published in the report… The data reflect the situation as of June 1 of the respective year of publication. Data points may be revised as new information is available, which is also applied to the time series to ensure consistency of data,” the World Bank explained. (PNA)