By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Dec. 11 (PNA) — The Philippines has improved in six out of 11 global competitiveness reports of several international institutions for the year 2014.
In its year-end briefing Thursday, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) Philippines recalled that the country had enhanced its competitiveness in different global indices; even achieving a double-digit improvement in its global ranking.
NCC Co-Chair Guillermo M. Luz said the Philippines improved in the following global reports for 2014 compared to the country’s standings in 2013 indices:
*International Finance Corporation Ease of Doing Business Report, up by 13 notches to rank 95 in 2014 from rank 108 in 2013;
*World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report, up by 7 notches to rank 52 in 2014 from rank 59 in 2013;
*Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, up by 9 notches to rank 85 in 2014 from rank 94 in 2013; and
*Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom Index, up by 8 notches to rank 89 this year from rank 97 in 2013;
On the other hand, the country’s global position in WEF’s Travel and Tourism Report and Global Enabling Trade Index were noted an improvement of 12 and 8 notches, respectively.
Meanwhile, for other global reports for this year, the global rankings of the Philippines slid in the following:
*IMD World Competitiveness Report, down by 4 notches to rank 42 this year;
*World Intellectual Property Organization Global Innovation Index, down by 10 notches to rank 100 this year;
*World Bank Logistics Performance Index, down by 5 notches to rank 57 this year;
The Fund for Peace Fragile States Index, down by 7 notches to rank 52 this year.
While the country’s 2014 WEF Global Gender Gap Report went down by 4 notches, the Philippines is still among the world’s top 10, ranked at 9 this year out of 142 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. (PNA)