WEF: Competitiveness rankings of East Asian nations

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has shown marked improvement in the Global Competitiveness Index report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), jumping a total of 26 places since 2010.

In the 2013 report, the country ranked 59th among 148 countries with a score of 4.29. Its ranking was 6 notches higher than its 2012 standing. The country ranked 85th in 2010, when President Benigno Aquino III took office.

“The Philippines—where a national competitiveness council was set up in 2006—has made significant strides against corruption,” WEF said, noting how this has boosted the country’s ranking amid a world economy that is still emerging slowly “from the most serious economic crisis of the post–World War II period—one that has deeply transformed the global economy.”

(READ: PH jumps to 59th in competitiveness index)

The report, one of the numerous annual publications of WEF, measures the competitiveness of economies included in its survey.

Businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala explained that it’s important to take note of global rankings because of 2 reasons:

• They are a set of diagnostic tools that highlight the strengths the country can build on, as well as the challenges that it must overcome, to become more globally competitive.
• Investors pay close attention to the indicators and use the information to assess country standings across a variety of metrics.

“While the Philippines has not ranked favorably in many of these surveys, it is encouraging to see a significant improvement,” Zobel said.

(READ: The importance of country competitiveness)

Rappler plotted in the chart below the rankings and scores obtained by the Philippines in the competitiveness report through the years.

We also plotted the rankings and scores of other countries in East and Southeast Asia to see how the Philippines fared against neighboring nations.

– chart prepared by Michelle Fernandez/Rappler.com