How do you measure a country’s success? Is it the percentage of tax you have to pay the government? Is it the availability of convenient transportation like trains? Is it the reliability of law enforcers and how they make us feel safe? Is it by the number of beggars on the street?
I think all of us use a different yardstick. I also think that all Filipinos have their own take on whether we have progressed, stayed the same, or was worse. I respect everyone’s opinion, I think everyone has a point and is probably correct at some points. However, this blog is meant to celebrate. We celebrate that at least globally recognized reports have noted that we have improved for the better. Most improved country since 2010 in fact (just in terms of ranks skipped of course).
The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report took a survey on 148 countries in total in which they have identified the Philippines to be #52. We started at #85 in 2010 and had since jumped 33 ranks. The Global Competitiveness Survey ranks each country based on the following 12 Pillars:
Factor Driven Countries: Primarily unskilled labors and reliance on natural resources, commodities driven.
Pillar 1: Well Functioning Public and Private Institutions – government offices, law and courts, businesses, others
Pillar 2: Appropriate Infrastructure – roads, bridges, water supply, electricity, telecoms, others
Pillar 3: Stable Macro-economic Framework – national income, inflation, employment rate, others
Pillar 4: Good Health and Primary Education – schools, hospitals, health benefits, others
Efficiency Driven Countries: Higher wages, more efficient production process and increase product quality
Pillar 5: Higher Education and Training
Pillar 6: Efficient Goods Market
Pillar 7: Efficient Labor Markets
Pillar 8: Developed Financial Markets
Pillar 9: Ability to harness the benefits of existing Technologies
Pillar 10: Market Size
Innovation Driven Countries: Able to sustain higher wages and higher standard of living. Their business is able to compete by providing new and unique products
Pillar 11: Sophisticated Production Process
Pillar 12: Innovation
In 2013, the Philippines was already placed on transition stage from Factor Driven Countries to Efficiency Driven Countries. Still at it’s earlier stages but we are moving forward.
A direct excerpt from the report says:
The Philippines (52nd) continues its upward trend. The country’s gain of 33 places since 2010 is the largest over that period among all countries studied. The results suggest that the reforms of the past four years have bolstered the country’s economic fundamentals. The trends across most of the 12 pillars are positive, and in some cases truly remarkable.
In the institutions pillar (67th), the Philippines has leapfrogged some 50 places since 2010. In particular, there are signs that the efforts made against corruption have started bearing fruit: in terms of ethics and corruption, the country has moved from 135th in 2010 to 81st this year. The recent success of the government in tackling some of the most pressing structural issues provides evidence that bold reforms can yield positive results relatively quickly. A similar pattern is observed in terms of government efficiency (69th) and the protection of property rights (63rd). Finally, the Philippines has made significant strides in terms of technological adoption (69th, up eight). The country is one of the best digitally connected developing Asian nations, close behind Malaysia (60th) and Thailand (65th).
The same cannot be said of infrastructure, however, which remains poor (91st), especially with respect to airport (108th) and seaport (101st) infrastructure. The situation is just as worrisome in the labor market, which suffers from rigidities and inefficiencies: the Philippines ranks a mediocre 91st in this dimension and almost no progress has been made since 2010. Finally, security remains an issue (89th), in particular in terms of costs that the threat of terrorism imposes on businesses (110th).
There are a lot of great news from the results of the index, but it also shows that there are also a lot of work to be done. Let us not lose heart and keep doing our part to support progress. #LabanPilipinas #Puso!!! 🙂
For reference:
WEF 2014-2015 Global Competitiveness Report
Cover photo taken from customoko.com