The Philippines Jumps 29 Places in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Rankings
According to The World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 Report, ease of doing business (EODB) in the Philippines has vastly improved. The Philippines currently ranks as the 95th best country to do business out of 190 countries. This is still far from the top, but better than the Philippines 2019 ranking, which placed it in the bottom half at 124th place. That’s a 29-notch long jump. The EODB score of the Philippines has jumped 3.12 points, from 57.68 in last year’s report to 62.8 this year.
The annual Doing Business report aims to measure how well businesses can flourish in certain economies. Small enterprises are the bedrock of the economy, which is why ensuring their ability to grow is essential to ensuring a healthy private sector.
The report measures countries based on the following metrics: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
According to the report, the Philippines is one of the 42 economics that implemented regulatory reforms, which led to improvements in the country’s standing in rankings. These reforms include abolishing the minimum capital requirement for domestic companies, streamlining the process for obtaining an occupancy certificate, and strengthening minority investor protections. All of these led to improvements in starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and protecting investors, respectively.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Philippines is the most improved ASEAN country in EODB rank and scores. They also said that the Philippines is one of the top four highest jumpers in national economics. Togo jumped 40 places, Saudi Arabia jumped 30 places, while Jordan tied with the Philippines by jumping 29 places.
The countries with the highest ease of doing business are: New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, South Korea, U.S., Georgia, U.K, Norway, and Sweden.
The Philippines ranked between Nepal at no. 94 and Guatemala at no. 96.
