THE Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) hoped the Philippines would attract more investors after it ranked third in the World’s Best Countries to Invest In or Do Business for 2019 by magazine, CEOWorld.
The rankings were based on 11 different factors including corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), workforce, investor protection, infrastructure, taxes, quality of life, red tape and technological readiness.
“We hope this can be translated to more investments coming into the country,” said CCCI president Virgilio Espeleta.
The country’s Southeast Asian neighbor, Malaysia, ranked first in the “most attractive destination for investors and business people,” among 67 countries in the world.
However, Espeleta said there needs to be more improvement in the economy especially the processes and aid for industries that are currently experiencing a downward trend in their numbers.
“It’s too good to be true. We also hope that our local industries will be able to feel the real score translated to growth and competitiveness,” he said.
Asked about what industry need help, Espeleta said more initiatives should be invested in manufacturing, a sector that contributes most in terms of job generation.
“Manufacturing has been on a downward trend. We hope we can reverse that. We have been importing more and more but producing less and less,” he said.
Its website said the CEOWorld Magazine Rankings is a “fully independent survey based ranking system dictated to help educate prospective undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate applicants, top-international education consultants, chief executive officers and other senior management executives.” It conducts annual rankings on what’s the best in various categories, ranging from the world’s richest people to the best universities, top companies and top executives.
In 2018, the country was named as the “Best Country to Invest In” by the US News & World Report. (JOB)