Palace not worried by PH drop in Forbes ranking

Photo from forbes.com

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang is not bothered much by the drop in ranking of the Philippines in Forbes’ Best Countries for Business for 2013.

“We acknowledge there is room for improvement in all those aspects. We view as a continuing challenge the need to improve our business processes,” Presidential Communications Operations Office secretary Herminio Coloma said in a press conference Thursday.

The Philippines’ rank dropped three places to 90 in the 2013 rankings compared to 87 the previous year.

The Forbes ranking looks at a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, GDP per Capita, Trade Balance as percent of GDP, and Population.

“Countries are graded on 11 different metrics including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance,” Forbes said in its report.

Ireland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Canada, Norway, and the Netherlands make up the top 10 of the list.

The Philippines is ranked below Serbia (86th), Lebanon (87th), and Madagascar (89th) while making it above Russia (91st), China (94th), India (98th).

In terms of GDP growth alone, the Philippines ranks 20th place with 6.6 percent putting it below China (11th) with 7.8 percent and Saudi Arabia (19th) with 6.8 percent.

Coloma said that it sees the country’s drop in rankings as a “learning point and an opportunity for introducing further improvements.”

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