Doing business in the Philippines has become more difficult, the World Bank said on Thursday.
In its 2012 Doing Business Report, the Philippines dropped two notches to 136th from 134th place in the Doing Business 2011 Report, despite instituting a single reform intended to make regulatory environment more business-friendly. The reform dealt with resolving insolvency easier. The report polled 183 economies.
The Philippine ranking placed the country among the laggards in the East Asian region in terms of business-friendliness.
Singapore retained its position as the friendliest place to do business in, followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand. Others in the top 10 were the US, Denmark, Norway, UK, South Korea, Iceland and Ireland, respectively.
Meanwhile, other Asian countries fared better than the Philippines. Thailand was in 17th place; Malaysia, 18th; Japan, 20th; Taiwan, 25th; Brunei, 83rd; China, 91st; Vietnam, 98th; and Indonesia, 129th. meanwhile, Cambodia placed 138th , while Lao PDR, 165th.
Other countries in Africa, considered among the least developed in the world, even outranked the Philippines, including Sudan, which placed 135th. Sudan has recently been partitioned between North and South following two decades of civil war.
The report assesses regulations affecting domestic firms and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.
This year's report data covered regulations measured from June 2010 through May 2011.
“The global report shows that governments in 125 economies out of 183 measured implemented a total of 245 business regulatory reforms—13 percent more reforms than in the previous year," the World Bank said. - CMA/OMG
