Ph slips to 66th place in economic freedom ranking

MANILA, September 15 ------ The Philippines fell 3 spots in Canadian think-tank Fraser Institute's latest global index which measured the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom.

The country placed 66th out of 165 countries with a score 7.09, the 2022 Economic Freedom of the World report showed. It was in the 63rd spot in the 2019 list, with a score of 7.34. In the latest report, which used data from 2020, the Philippines tied for the 66th spot with Indonesia. Compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines remained below Singapore (2), Malaysia (49), Brunei (59), Cambodia (63). Though it outranked Thailand (86), Vietnam (113) and Myanmar (137).

According to the think tank, economic freedom is measured in 5 areas, namely size of government, legal system and property rights, soundness of money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation. The Philippines registered its best score at 9.58 in the sound money category, which covers money growth, inflation, and freedom to own foreign currency bank accounts. The country performed worst in the legal system category with a score of 4.4. This covers the protection of persons and their rightfully acquired property, which many argue "is the most important function of government," said the think tank. In other areas, it obtained 7.92 in "size of government," which involves government consumption, transfers and subsidies and government investment. In "regulation," the Philippines got 7.31, with a score drop in credit market regulations covering the private sector credit. Lastly, the country scored 6.21 in "freedom to trade traditionally" as its rating in tariffs and controls of the movement of the capital and people declined.

The think tank said many nations in Latin America and Southeast Asia scored "poorly" for rule of law and property rights. "The nations that rank poorly in this category also tend to score poorly in the trade and regulation areas, even though several have reasonably sized governments and sound money," it said. Globally, Hong Kong and Singapore occupied the top 2 spots, scoring 8.59 and 8.48, respectively. The next highest-scoring nations were Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, United States, Estonia, Mauritius, and Ireland. Meanwhile, the 10 lowest-rated countries are Democratic Republic of Congo, Algeria, Republic of Congo, Iran, Libya, Argentina, Syria, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Venezuela.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com