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THE
Philippines has improved in its ranking in the World
Competitiveness Yearbook 2008 (WCY) released Thursday by
an international business school based in Switzerland,
the Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The WCY is considered the world’s most
renowned and comprehensive annual report on the
competitiveness of nations. It ranks and analyzes how a
nation’s environment creates and sustains the
competitiveness of industries.
In this year’s WCY, the Philippines
ranked 40th among 55 economies included in the study,
higher than last year’s rank of 45th. The country
garnered an index score of 50.478 this year.
The World Competitiveness Scoreboard
presents the 2008 overall rankings for the 55 economies
covered by the WCY. The economies are ranked from the
most to the least competitive.
This year’s topnotchers, as in the last
years, continue to be the United States, which had an
index score of 100, followed by Singapore with an index
score of 99.33.
“The big question is whether the United
States will be No. 1 after this year,” project director
Stephane Garelli was quoted in an Associated Press
report, adding that the IMD report was based on 2007
data that do not fully reflect all of the problems in US
financial markets. “Everyone is catching up very
quickly, but so far the US economy is showing a lot of
resilience.”
The US position was cemented by its
domestic economy, which is the world’s strongest,
topping all others in its amount of investments, stock
purchases and commercial service exports. The US also
ranks as the easiest place to secure venture capital for
business development and dominates all other economies
in key technology criteria such as computers in use,
according to the report.
But Garelli warned that US economic
health is vulnerable because of its heavy reliance on
the financial sector for corporate profits.
Those at the bottom of the scoreboard
were
Venezuela,
which maintained the same rank, 55th, from last year’s
WCY, and Ukraine, which dropped to 54th place from 46th.
Venezuela and Ukraine garnered index
scores of 31.143 and 38.170, respectively.
All 55 economies were ranked based on
four factors, economic performance, government
efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.
Economic performance subfactors measured
the economy’s health on the domestic front, gauged its
performance in international trade and investment, its
ability to generate jobs and contain inflation.
Government efficiency, on the other
hand, was measured according to its performance in
public finance, fiscal policy, institutional framework,
business legislation, and societal framework.
The third factor, business efficiency,
was gauged according to its productivity, the
involvement of the labor market, finance, management
practices, and the attitudes and values businesses
uphold.
Meanwhile, infrastructure was measured
according to subfactors on basic infrastructure,
technological infrastructure, scientific infrastructure,
health and environment, and education.
Other economies included in the top 10
in the WCY are
Hong Kong, which maintained its ranking at third place with an index
score of 94.964; followed by
Switzerland, which improved its ranking to fourth place
from sixth place last year with an index score of
89.656.
With AP |
