Phl world competitiveness improving - Nomura

MANILA, Philippines - Japan’s largest investment bank Nomura International (HK) Ltd. is confident that the Philippines would be able to reverse the decline in its world competitiveness ranking through higher government spending.

Euben Paracuelles and Lavanya Venkateswaran of Nomura said in a research note that there should be an improvement in the ranking of the Philippines in the 2012 World Competitiveness Yearbook that slipped to 43rd from 41st due to weak economic indicators.

Paracuelles and Venkateswaran said the Philippines fell two spots to 43rd due to a weak ranking in the economic performance criterion that was related to the under spending by the Aquino administration last year.

“But this is now being reversed, so there should be an improvement in future rankings,” they stressed.

The Philippines’ overall rank in the survey conducted by the Switzerland-based global business school Institute for Management Development (IMD) was still significantly higher than the 39th spot in 2010. The survey ranks 59 countries.

The Philippines ranked 44th in terms of the strength of the domestic economy, 55th in international trade, 54th in having a skilled workforce, 32nd in public finance, 22nd in employment 22nd, 17th in ; prices of goods and services, 11th in fiscal policy, 36th in institutional framework, and 49th in business legislation.

It also ranked 38th in societal framework, 55th in productivity and efficiency, 1st in labor market, 29th in finance, 27th in management practices, 20th in attitudes and values, 56th in basic infrastructure, 46th in technology infrastructure, 58th in scientific infrastructure, 50th in health and environment, and 57th in education.

Aside from the Philippines, three other Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia slipped in their rankings.

Nomura said Thailand’s ranking slipped three notches due to the impact of the flood while that of Indonesia fell five notches to 42nd on the back of worsening rankings. Singapore slipped one notch to fourth place from third.

On the other hand, Malaysia’s ranking in the 2012 World Competitiveness Yearbook climbed two spots to 14th place due to marked improvements in the government and business efficiency criteria.

Hong Kong ranked first in the yearbook followed by the US in second, and Switzerland in third, while Greece ranked 58th and Venezuela was at the bottom or 59th.

The Aquino government has boosted government spending to aid its ailing economy after its gross domestic product (GDP) growth slackened to 3.9 percent last year from 7.6 percent in 2010 due to weak global trade and under spending.