THE Philippines continued to rank well against its Asean counterparts in terms of GDP growth and open data efforts but lagged in terms of investments, tourist arrivals and inflation, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a recent presentation, Assistant National Statistician Candido J. Astrologo Jr. also said the Philippines enjoyed higher literacy rates compared to its Asean peers but lagged in terms of life expectancy.
Astrologo added that the Philippines ranked second in terms of the Open Data Inventory of the Open Data Watch and the World Bank’s Statistical Capacity Indicator.
“The Philippines did well in terms of GDP growth rate. We have been called a tiger economy or the best performing economy for the past years but not regarding inflation rate, FDI [foreign direct investments], and visitor arrivals,” Astrologo said. “There’s still room for improvement.”
Astrologo said the Philippines improved its performance in the Asean in terms of GDP growth. In 2018, the country ranked first against the Asean-6 when it posted a growth of 6.2 percent.
This was a far cry from the country’s ranking in 2006, when the Philippines posted the 3rd lowest GDP growth of 5.2 percent.
Poor in FDI
In terms of FDI, the Philippines only accounted for 6.3 percent of total Asean FDI in 2018. This was a 1.7- percentage point increase from the 4.6 percent share it posted in 2006.
Singapore remains the top recipient of FDI in the region, accounting for 50.2 percent of total FDI in 2018 and 57.3 percent in 2006.
Indonesia and Vietnam, meanwhile, posted the highest increases in share between 2006 and 2018. Indonesia posted a 6.5-percentage point increase while Vietnam saw a 6.2-percentage point growth in FDI share in the region over a span of 12 years.
Astrologo said the Philippines was the least popular tourist destination, particularly in the Asean-5. In 2017, there were only 6.6 million tourist arrivals in the country.
“Although the number of visitor arrivals in the Philippines continuously increased over the years, it exhibited a slower pace than most of the AMSs [Asean member-states],” Astrologo said.
When it comes to inflation, the Philippines was regarded as the second most expensive country in the Asean with an average inflation of 5.2 percent in 2018. Last year saw inflation rates accelerating over several months as the first tranche of the government tax reforms kicked in, but government economists also blamed supply problems, especially with rice, prices of which soared. The inflation has since decelerated to 2.4 percent in July, with economic managers crediting the combination of inflation-usting measures that were rolled out.
Astrologo said in 2018, Myanmar at 6.3 percent had the highest inflation rate while Brunei Darussalam has the lowest at 0.1 percent.
In terms of life expectancy, Filipinos born in 2015 are expected to live 70 years. This is shorter than any of the countries in the Asean-6.
Life expectancy of Singaporeans is the highest at 83 years while that of Laotians is the lowest at 65 years.
On a positive note, Astrologo said the literacy rate in the country was the fourth highest in the Asean using 2015 data at 95.4 percent.
In 2015, data from Asean Stats showed that Brunei Darussalam had the highest literacy rate at 97.2 percent while Lao PDR has the lowest at 79 percent.
In terms of open data—which measures whether data can be downloaded in machine-readable and nonproprietary formats—the Philippines rated well. Open data also meant being accompanied by metadata and download options, as well as open terms of use.
The Philippines bounced back to second place in 2018 after slipping to third place in 2017. The country was already in second place in the 2016 ranking. Singapore was first in the ranking between 2016 and 2018. Lao PDR, meanwhile, was the last in 2017 and 2018.
The World Bank’s overall Statistical Capacity score is calculated using a simple average of methodology, data sources, and periodicity and timeliness on a scale of 0-100.
“The Philippines ranked No. 1 for the years 2008 to 2013; however, it posted its lowest score [77.8] in 2014 when it ranked No. 3,” Astrologo said. “[The Philippines] managed to bounce back to No. 2 in 2018.”
The Asean was founded in August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In January 1984, Brunei Darussalam joined and together with the original Asean-5, formed the Asean-6.
The nineties brought more members to the Asean. In July, 1995, Vietnam joined the bloc, followed by Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia in April 1999. Together, these countries formed what is known as the CLMV countries, an acronym bearing the first letters of their names.