RP No. 77 in competitiveness - better than india

VIRTUAL BUSINESS By TONY LOPEZ

The Philippines is No. 77 in terms of growth competitiveness and we
are better than India in terms of technology, according to the World
Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Index, which ranks
117 countries, looking at factors like government economic policy,
the strength of local institutions and the degree to which
technology has been used to bolster growth.

The Philippines is No. 77 in terms of growth competitiveness and we
are better than India in terms of technology, according to the World
Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Index, which ranks
117 countries, looking at factors like government economic policy,
the strength of local institutions and the degree to which
technology has been used to bolster growth.

The 10 most competitiveness countries are: 1) Finland (the home of
Nokia), 2) the United States (the home of Katrina), 3) Sweden (the
home of Abba and Skype free Internet phone), 4) Denmark, 5) Taiwan
(which is not recognized as a country by most of the world, 6)
Singapore (a city built on a shopping mall and a small garden), 7)
Iceland, Switzerland (another small place), 9) Norway (a faraway
place), and 10) Australia (an equally faraway place).

What are the main characteristics of the Top Ten?

High technology, small places (in the case of Singapore, Taiwan and
Switzerland), faraway (in the cases of Norway, Finland, Iceland,
Sweden, the Nordic countries), and well, that's it.

Otherwise, the Philippines has nothing to apologize for in having
such low rankings—No. 77 in Global Competitiveness, No. 54 in
Technology Index, No. 104 in Public Institutions Index (this simply
means our public institutions are either inefficient or corrupt or
both), and No. 71 in MacroEconomic Environment Index (there's hope!).

The Philippines has been the world's punching bag, by survey groups
like SWS, Pulse Asia and now, the World Economic Forum.

Last time I heart about the World Economic Forum, they were so
desperate because apparently they couldn't contact anybody from the
Philippines to validate their preconceived notions about the country—
its economy, its public institutions, its governance, and its
outlook. So I wonder how the WEF came up with the 2005-06 rankings
as regards the Philippines.

Not having enough data about the Philippines, the WEF managed to put
the country a rung down, from No. 76 in Growth Competitiveness to
No. 77 this year.

If you look at what the WEF with the other countries, we should be
very happy with our 77th place.

China dropped to 49th from 46th, although India was upgraded to 50th
from 55th. Maybe, the WEF doesn't like China because Europe—where
the WEF is based—feels threatened by China's growing economic power
and trading clout. Remember their garments row?

As for India? Well, it was a British colony until Gandhi decided the
Brits should be ousted, with civil disobedience. In other words,
India has European connection.

I cannot understand the WEF Technology Index rankings.

India is only 55th, behind the Philippines (we are better than India
in technology?) and yet India is supposed to be the Silicon Valley
of Asia. China is even behind us, at No. 64th and yet China to me
today has the best technology in the world—for the money.

China (it used to be God) makes everything, and copies everything so
cheap. That's technology.

China and India's rankings were occasioned by their so-called
corruption, bureaucracy and education problems. Wow! As if the world
didn't know those problems existed in those countries since time
immemorial. In any case, China and India are the world's fastest-
growing economies and the two of them will overtake the US and the
developed world before the first 50 years of this century.

WEF said that rapid growth in China and India could be threatened in
the long term by factors like poor education systems and low use of
technology. These factors were "likely to slow down their ascension
to the top tier of the most competitive economies in the world."

In WEF's Growth Competitiveness Index, Japan fell to 12th, from 9th;
Britain went down to 13th, from 11th; Germany declined to 15th, from
13th. Spain fell to 23rd, from 29th; and France dropped to 30th,
from 27th. Italy is 47th place, between Greece and Botswana.

One of the biggest gains was scored by South Korea, which leaped to
17th place, from 29th last year, in part because of high scores in
technology. South Korea is No. 7 in the Technology Index.

Margareta Drzeniek, a senior economist at the World Economic Forum,
said, "The reasons for the strong performance by the Nordic
countries is that they have very transparent systems, high levels of
technology penetration, a well-educated work force and good
macroeconomic management." Thank their high taxes for that.

High taxes have not discouraged entrepreneurs.

The World Economic Forum praised Finland for having "one of the most
innovative business environments in the world."

The US remains at the cutting edge of technology, the WEF said,
citing its "pipeline of innovation second to none in the world."

E-mail tonylopez-@biznews-asia.com

From: lakbaypilipinas@gmail.com

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