Philippines declines a spot in economic freedom index

THE Philippines slipped one spot in a global index on economic freedom, despite improvements in some areas, according to the Canada-based think tank Fraser Institute.

- Justine Irish D. Tabile Reporter

The country ranked 62nd out of 165 economies in conservative think tank’s Economic Freedom of the World report, which uses 2023 data. In the previous year’s index, the Philippines ranked 61st place.

This was the Philippines’ lowest placement in the index in two years, or since it ranked 68th in 2021.

Despite the lower ranking, the country’s score inched up to 7.05 out of 10 in 2023 from 7.01 in 2022.

Among Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, the Philippines lagged behind Hong Kong (8.55), Singapore (8.50), New Zealand (8.33), Australia (8.03), Taiwan (8.03), Japan (7.83), Malaysia (7.56), South Korea (7.53), Thailand (7.10), and Brunei Darussalam (7.09).

However, the Philippines was ahead of Indonesia (6.96), Mongolia (6.83), Cambodia (6.79), Vietnam (6.21), China (6.13), Papua New Guinea (6.09), Fiji (6.08), Timor-Leste (5.97), Laos (5.65), and Myanmar (4.46).

The index measures the degree to which citizens are allowed to make their own economic choices through five areas: size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

The Philippines had its highest score in the sound money category with 9.01, ranking 34th out of the 165 countries, slightly lower than its previous score of 9.04.