by FFE PH News Staff

The Philippines jumps 8 spots up in a ranking of 178 countries.

International business paper The Wall Street Journal and think tank The Heritage Foundation have just released their report ‘2014 Index of Economic Freedom’ where the Philippines has shown significant improvement from last year’s ranking.

The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom measures economic freedom and opportunity in a country. The index used 10 factors that are grouped into four categories to rank the countries, these are:

1. Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption)

2. Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending)

3. Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom)

4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom)

With a score of 60.1, the Philippines had been ranked 89^th out of 178 countries. Last year, the country was ranked 97^th among 177 countries.

Comparing countries in Asia Pacific, the Philippines’ score is 1.6 points higher than the regional average of 58.5. The Philippines also ranks 16^th among its neighbours and is ahead of Indonesia (58.5 points), China (52.5) and Vietnam (50.8).

According to the report, the Philippines improved in the realms of ‘investment freedom, business freedom, monetary freedom and the control of government spending.’ It is currently categorised under ‘Moderately Free,’ countries with a score of 60–69.9 and is ranked alongside Belgium, Spain and France.

The report also emphasised how the level of perceived corruption had declined over the years, but that more effective anti-corruption measures are needed. It added that answering institutional challenges like corruption through reform may help boost progress.

Malacañang welcomed the news given by the report. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said that the government’s efforts to address corruption are finally being seen by the international community, which may lead to more investors.

The secretary added that the challenge is now to ‘ensure our recent economic growth and inclusive development remain beyond President Aquino’s term ending in 2016.’

Meanwhile, countries which made it to the index’s top six are: Hong Kong (90.1 points), Singapore (89.4), Australia (82), Switzerland (81.6), New Zealand (81.2) and Canada (80.2).