PHL down 6 notches in IMD Talent Ranking By Andrea E. San Juan
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HE Philippines went down six notches in the Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) World Talent Ranking (WTR) from 54th in 2022. The country ranked 60th out of 64 countries in 2023. Its score was 35.81 out of 100. Meanwhile, the Philippines is still one of the worst performers in Asia and the Pacific as it ranked second to the last in the region, or 13th out of the 14 countries. “This year’s rankings also show that as economies become more service-oriented [a transformation process that has also reached China
and India], the physical presence of employees in the country of their employers is no longer needed,” Arturo Bris, Director of the World Competitiveness Center (WCC) said. Bris pointed to the emergence of a new type of employee who has been educated in one country, lives in another, and works for a company located in a third country. Such a phenomenon, Bris noted, has “implications” for fiscal rules and education systems. The rankings were based on the scores and rankings of countries in 31 criteria that are measured and organized into three factors. These factors include the Investment and Development factor, which considers the investment and
development of home-grown talent. Another is the Appeal factor, which is the extent to which a country taps into the overseas talent pool. The last factor is Readiness, which assesses the quality of the available skills and competencies in the talent pool. The ranking of the Philippines was the lowest in the Investment and Development factor at 62nd, followed by Appeal at 55th and Readiness, 51st overall. Under Investment and Development, the country ranked poorly in terms of the total public expenditure on education per student at $367 per student. This placed the country 63rd in this criteria.
High in employee training
The criteria where the country ranked the highest under Investment and Development was employee training which is a high priority in companies. This placed the country 37th overall in this criteria. For Appeal, the country ranked the poorest in terms of quality of life, which is high.The country ranked 54th out of 64 countries in this criteria. IMD’s data showed that among the criteria where the country did well was collection of personal income taxes, where it placed 17th overall. See “IMD,” A2
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SIGNALS A HIKE IN NOV
PHL a ‘key target’ for business in SEA–survey
By Cai U. Ordinario
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ILIPINO consumers waiting for interest rates to decline are in for a disappointment as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) intends to raise interest rates anew in its next meeting and maintain this rate until the end of the first semester of next year.
This was according to BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr., who announced on Thursday that the Monetary Board decided to maintain its key policy rates for the fourth consecutive month this year. BSP’s Target Reverse Repurchase (RRP) Rate was maintained at 6.25 percent. Accordingly, the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were retained at 5.75 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively. “I would say, rate cuts this year, 2023, are off the table. But rate hikes are not off the table,” Remolona said in a briefing on Thursday. “I expect rates to be at the level at the end of this year. If we raise later in the year, we have a meeting in November, so if we raise in November, I expect rates to stay at that level for the early part of next year,” he also said. When asked whether the BSP is considering to hike rates in November, Remolona said “Well, honestly, yes.” The Monetary Board decided to maintain key policy rates for now,
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NUCLEAR-FREE WORLD Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo joins Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as they gather for discussions on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) during an event hosted by Japan, the Philippines and Australia, non-nuclear weapons defense partners, on September 19, 2023, in New York. Kishida pledged to lead the struggling global nuclear disarmament effort, proposing discussions between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states to revive the 1993 FMCT, with the support of Global South nations. Japan also plans to allocate ¥3 billion ($20 million) to establish Japan Chairs at overseas research institutions and think tanks, aiming to foster discussions bridging the gap between deterrence and disarmament. AP PHOTO/CRAIG RUTTLE
HE Philippines is a “key target” for international businesses seeking to enter new Southeast Asian markets, according to the HSBC Global Connections survey. The survey noted that 19 percent of those with existing operations in the country said they planned to prioritize expanding their operations in the country over the next two years while 21 percent of those without a current Philippine presence reported plans to enter the market over the next two years. The research commissioned by HSBC Commercial Banking showed that international businesses from nine major economies are “increasingly optimistic” about their growth prospects in Southeast Asia. “These findings confirm what we have been seeing from our own customers: that businesses around the world are increasingly See “PHL,” A2
91% LEARNING POVERTY THRICE GOVT ESTIMATES
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EARLY all 10-year-old Filipinos cannot read and understand ageappropriate reading materials, according to the World Bank. Based on the latest World Bank report titled Fixing the Foundation: Teachers and Basic Education in East Asia and the Pacific, learning poverty in the Philippines is at 91 percent. The World Bank said this is almost three times the actual estimate made by the government which is pegged at 37 percent. “Surveys of government officials around the world suggest they are not always aware of the
magnitude of their countries’ foundational learning deficits,” the World Bank report stated. “In five of the five countries surveyed in the region—Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Vietnam— policy makers’ estimates of 10-year-olds’ literacy levels exceeded measured levels by substantial margins,” the report added. Apart from the Philippines, the World Bank said learning poverty is above 50 percent in 13 other countries, including Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
In upper-midd le-income Malaysia, learning poverty is above 40 percent. In contrast, learning poverty is 3 to 4 percent in Japan, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea. The World Bank said the failure to equip students with foundational skills jeopardizes their ability to acquire more advanced skills that will help them succeed in the labor market and escape poverty. Since learning is cumulative, the World Bank said, many of these children will never be able to develop the more advanced See “91%,” A2
See “BSP,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 56.7800 n japan 0.3832 n UK 70.1119 n HK 7.2582 n CHINA 7.7898 n singapore 41.5971 n australia 36.6117 n EU 60.5615 n KOREA 0.0426 n SAUDI arabia 15.1389 Source: BSP (September 21, 2023)