Daniela Adelaide Jaimeleen Sol Dizon

The Philippines strives to be among the top 20 percent of nations covered by the World Bank’s Business-Ready; it is a worldwide study that ranks countries based on how suited their environment is to business.

Photo Courtesy of Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg.

The World Bank is an international financial agency that gives grants, and expertise to countries to help them develop economically and have long-term growth.

Since 1945, The World Bank has supported the Philippines to boost economic growth, improve infrastructure, and health.

The officials emphasized that the goal involves extending reforms to decrease bureaucratic red tape.

“We should be in the top 20 (percent). That is our aim,” said ARTA Director-General Ernesto V. Perez during the 2024 Ease of Doing Business Convention on Monday.

According to the B-Ready assessment released earlier this month, the Philippines ranks in the top 40% of 50 economies in terms of regulatory framework.

But it needs to improve in the other two areas: public services pillar and operational efficiency.  In the public services pillar, the Philippines ranked 24th with a score of 50.80. As for the operational efficiency, the Philippines ranked 36th, with a score of 57.95.

He added further to say that the Philippines is not likely to be included in next year's B-Ready report, but would be in 2026 because the reforms and other activities have already been laid out. They demonstrated their confidence in the upcoming success.

Gonzalo Varela, the World Bank's head economist for the Philippines, emphasized the need for reforms in business entry to increase employment growth. He identified gaps in business location, market competition, and business insolvency.

ARTA, on the other hand, intends to collaborate with organizations such as the SEC, PhilHealth, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to improve the process of founding and dissolving businesses.