by FFE PH News staff

The Philippines just jumped 30 places to land the 108^th spot as the world’s best country to do business. The joint World Bank (WB)-International Finance Corp. annual ‘Doing Business’ report said that the shift was ‘more than any other country out of 189 economies that Doing Business measures.’

WB Philippines country director Motoo Konishi added ‘This is the first major improvement for the Philippines in the Doing Business ranking since the report started 11 years ago.’

In the Asia-Pacific region, 5 countries did better than the Philippines: Singapore (1^st), Malaysia (6^th), Thailand (18^th), Brunei (59^th) and Vietnam (99^th). Meanwhile, the Philippines did better than Indonesia (120^th), Cambodia (137^th), Laos (159^th), Timor-Leste (172^nd) and Myanmar (182^nd).

Of the indicators, the Philippines improved by:

• 65 spots for resolving insolvency (100^th)
  
• 43 spots for getting credit (86^th)
  
• 24 for getting electricity (33^rd)
  
• 12 for paying taxes (131^st)
  
• 11 for trading across borders (42^nd)
  
• 1 for dealing with construction permits (99^th)
  
• 1 for registering property (121^st)
  

The report said ‘These changes have been attributed to elimination of certain documentary requirements, guaranteed access to credit information, electronic systems for filing contributions, and impact of laws such as the Data Privacy Act and the Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act.’

The country, however, dropped a few spots in starting a business (9 places to 170^th) and enforcing contracts (3 places to 114^th). Meanwhile, the indicator protecting investors registered no change.

Senior advisor at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines John D. Forbes said he was impressed with the improvements. Meanwhile, Guillermo M. Luz, co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council, said ‘We have made improvements in seven out of the 10 indicators, so this year is a complete turnaround from last year.

‘The 30 (-place) jump is the highest not just for the Philippines but also in the world this year.’