The Philippines moved up four notches this year to No. 99 out of 190 economies and ranked 7th among 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries in the annual Ease of Doing Business (DB) Report of the World Bank Group.
Its performance improved in four of the 10 DB indicators, slipped in four others, and remained the same in the remaining two criteria, according to this WB flagship report provided to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
The data collection for the Doing Business 2017 report took place from February to May, 2016, and that the analysis cut-off was on May 31.
The Philippines was at No. 103 among 189 economies in the 2016 DB report.
The report bared that the Philippines’ ranking in the DB report was at its highest at No. 95 in 2015 and at its lowest at No. 148 in 2010.
Doing Business 2017 is the 14th in the series of annual reports by the World Bank Group on the regulations that either enhance or constrain business activity in the participating economies.
This annual undertaking “measures aspects of regulations affecting the life cycle of a business in 10 indicators: 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 2017 DB report.
In the 2017 report, the Philippines went up 18 notches (to 137 from 155) in protecting minority investors, by 14 (to 85 from 99) in dealing with construction permits, by 11 (to 115 from 126) in paying taxes, and by 4 (to 135 from 140) in enforcing contracts.
It slipped 9 notches (to 118 from 109) in getting credit, by 6 (to 171 from 165) in starting a business, by 3 (to 22 from 19) in getting electricity, and by 3 (to 56 from 53) in resolving insolvency, the DB report showed.
The Philippines’ ranking remained the same in registering property at No. 112 and in trading across borders at No. 95.
Apart from the Philippines, four other ASEAN members registered higher rankings in this year’s DB report.
Thailand went up to No. 46 from last year’s No. 49, Brunei Darussalam to No. 72 from No. 84, Vietnam to No. 82 from No. 90, and Indonesia to No. 91 from No. 109.
Five other ASEAN economies fell in the 2017 rankings, with Singapore dropping to No.2 from last year’s No. 1, Malaysia to No. 23 from No 18, Cambodia to No. 131 from No. 127, Lao People’s Democratic Republic to No. 139 from No. 134, and Myanmar to No. 170 from No 167.
In the summaries of Doing Business reforms in 2015/2016, the DB report noted that in dealing with construction permits, “The Philippines made dealing with construction permits easier by increasing the transparency of its building regulations.”
As for paying taxes, the report said, “The Philippines made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for filing and paying health contributions and by allowing for the online corporate income tax and VAT returns to be completed offline.”
