PHL down 10 notches in World Digital Competitiveness ranking

The Philippines saw a 10-notch drop in its digital competitiveness ranking this year, according to the 2018 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking released by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) and the AIM Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness (AIM-RSN PCC).

The ranking assesses a country's capacity and readiness to "adapt, explore, and make the most of the digital transformation" that occurs as technology progresses, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Center.

The Philippines ranked 56th out of 63 countries in the 2018 ranking, down 10 notches from 46th in 2017—and one of the largest drops in the survey, the IMD report said.

In Asia-Pacific, the Philippines ranked 12th among 14 countries.

The countries were evaluated using 50 indicators spread across three factors:

• Knowledge - the know-how necessary to build and adapt to new technologies
• Technology - the overall country setting that enables digital technologies to develop
• Future Readiness - the level of preparedness of the country to exploit and adapt to digital transformation

Technology was the lowest-ranked factor for the Philippines at 58th. The low ranking was mostly driven by the Regulatory Framework sub-factor, particularly the Starting a Business and Enforcing Contracts indicators, where the Philippines ranked 61st.

The low rank of the Technology factor was also driven by the Technological Framework sub-factor, specifically the communications technology and Internet bandwidth speed indicators, where the Philippine placed 62nd and 61st, respectively.

Another subfactor in the Technology category, Capital, saw a "severe" drop from 29th to 43rd, "largely due to a decline in perceptions about the effectiveness of banking and financial services...and the availability of venture capital..."

The Philippines’ highest-ranked factor was Knowledge at 50th, while the Future Readiness factor was ranked 52nd.

The World Digital Competitiveness ranking was topped by the United States, followed by Singapore (2nd), Sweden (3rd), Denmark (4th) and Switzerland (5th).

At the bottom of the ranking are Venezuela (63rd), Indonesia (62nd), Mongolia (61st), Peru (60th), and Colombia (59th). This edition is the WDC’s second year of publication. — BM, GMA News