Competitiveness Improves

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 ranked the Philippines 75th out of 142 economies, up from 85th out of 139 in the 2010-2011 report. Last year’s placing marked a reversal of 2009’s slide to 87th in a list of 133, from 71st out of 134 the year before. On a worst to best scale of one to seven, the country’s score improved to 4.1, from 4.0 and 3.9 in the prior years. The Philippines, however, still placed below most of its ASEAN peers: of the eight in the list, only Cambodia in 97th was ranked lower. Singapore, with a score of 5.63, was second overall next to first-placer Switzerland (5.74). Malaysia was 21st (5.08); Brunei, 28th (4.78); Thailand, 39th (4.52); Indonesia, 46th (4.38); and Vietnam was 65th (4.24). Other Asian countries that ranked high in the 2011-2012 report were Japan (9th, 5.40), Hong Kong (11th, 5.36), Taiwan (13th, 5.26). China was in 26th place with a score of 4.90. Despite ongoing fiscal problems, the top 10 was dominated by eurozone countries such Sweden (3rd, 5.61), Finland (4th, 5.47) and Germany (6th, 5.41)). The United States with a score of 5.43 was in 5th place.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Competitiveness-improves&id=37920