The Philippines posted the biggest climb in the latest business growth environment rankings, as it rose 25 notches to land on the 21st spot among the 60 countries ranked in the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) 2013.
Based on the results of the GDI 2013, which was released by Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A) on Monday, the country’s ascent in the rankings can be attributed to notable improvements in the country’s Gross Domestic Product expansion and labor and human capital.
“The fast-paced growth of the Philippine economy certainly underlined our substantial rise in this year’s GDI. This means our business growth environment improved quicker than any other country in 2012,” explained Marivic Españo, chair and CEO of Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A), the Grant Thornton member firm in the Philippines.
The GDI is an annual research commissioned by Grant Thornton that assesses and ranks the dynamism of business growth environments based on five key areas: Business operating environment, science and technology, labor and human capital, economics and growth, and financing environment.
Dynamism refers to the changes in an economy over the past 12 months that are likely to lead to a fast rate of future growth.
The index ranked the world’s largest economies by how much their business growth environments improved in 2012.
According to the GDI 2013, the Philippines ranked the third highest in terms of GDP expansion last year.
In the area of economics and growth, the country rose 11 notches to rank 4th among the 60 economies researched.
The Philippines showed the biggest improvement in the area of labor and capital, surging by 40 places to rank fifth next to China, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia.
According to P&A, this meant that the Philippines has the 5th best labor and  human capital in the world for growing businesses, driven largely by labor productivity growth of 5.4 percent.
“I think the key point here is that the Philippines is starting to realize its potential domestically. Aside from remittances, which have recovered well since the global financial crisis, private construction and government spending on infrastructure contributed to our above-target expansion,” Españo said.
“Domestic demand in the form of private investment and consumer growth has also helped the country outpace its Southeast Asian neighbors, which are showing signs of slowing down,” she added.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer - September 17, 2013