* Formerly the Distance to Frontier Score; the historical scores have changed due to adjustments in computation from the Doing Business Report for 2019

Latest figures show the country declining further in the world ranking by 11 spots. The steepest drop is observed in getting credit (-42 places), which measures the strength and availability of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. This slump was not cushioned by the greater number of indicators increasing this year compared to last year. The following indicators had higher rankings: protecting minority investors (+14), paying taxes (+11), starting a business (+7), dealing with construction permits (+7), and getting electricity (+2).

The slower pace of EODB reforms compared to other countries may have resulted in this sharp decline. Although the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 (RA 11032) has been enacted, its full implementation is yet to be felt as the Anti-Red Tape Authority is still not yet established, and the Implementing Rules and Regulations have not been approved.

* 190 countries

Except for Malaysia and Brunei that increased its ranking, the rest of the ASEAN experienced a decline this year. Lao PDR registered the biggest drop at 13 spots, followed by the Philippines at 11.

The Philippines still maintained its seventh spot amongst the ASEAN, where Singapore has continued its lead followed by Malaysia.

The country also posted far below the regional average on the EODB score at 57.68 vs. 66.11. Despite this, the Philippines earned a higher score in 2019, continuing the momentum since 2017. Nevertheless, the country must double its efforts to catch up with its fast-growing neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam.

Created by World Bank, the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Index provides rankings that show better regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. It covers 10 sub-indicators:

1. Starting a business
2. Dealing with construction permits
3. Getting electricity
4. Registering property
5. Getting credit
6. Protecting investors
7. Paying taxes
8. Trading across borders
9. Enforcing contracts
10. Resolving insolvency

Aside from this, the Index calculates a distance to frontier (DTF) score. Using a scale of 100 where 100 is the highest, the DTF score helps assess the absolute level of regulatory performance over time. It measures the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005.

Although this is not an indicator under the Results Matrix of Chapter 5, this is still being monitored to determine efforts on ease of doing business.

Frequency of update: Yearly

Publication of update: 31 October 2017

Period of study: Regulations measured from June through May/June of the same year

Link to the main site: http://www.doingbusiness.org/

Historical data: http://www.doingbusiness.org/data