Ramon Ang bullish on Philippines

Ramon S. Ang, chief operating officer of San Miguel Corp., has expressed confidence the country will hit its target of landing on the top third of countries ranked for global competitiveness by 2016.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released Wednesday its global competitiveness report, which showed that the Philippines leaped by 10 notches to the 65th spot among 144 countries surveyed.

The latest ranking put the Philippines at the upper half of surveyed countries for the first time.

Ang, who spearheaded SMC’s entry into Philippine Airlines, said that given current trends in the economy and governance, it was possible that the country would hit its medium-term global competitiveness target.

“I am very sure the Philippines will still do better,” Ang told reporters in an interview Wednesday night on the sidelines of the 50th anniversary celebration of Metrobank.

The results of the latest WEF survey on global competitiveness, which taps businesses as respondents, showed that the Philippines improved the most in the area of government institutions.

Guillermo Luz, co-chairman of the Philippines’ National Competitiveness Council (NCC), said Wednesday in a press briefing that the significant improvement in the area of government institutions could be credited to the ability of the Aquino administration to convince the business community that reforms, especially in the area of transparency and efforts to curb corruption, are being implemented in government agencies.