The Philippines Economic Freedom Ranking – Another Good Reason to Invest in the Philippine Stock Market

Hello everyone, I hope everyone had an energizing weekend, ready for another exciting week ahead.

If you’re still not convinced that the Philippine Stock Market is currently one of the best markets to invest in, think again.

The Philippines Economic Freedom ranking has jumped up by 12 spots to 58th in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) of Washington-based conservative political think tank, The Heritage Foundation.

What is the Index of Economic Freedom?

Index of Economic Freedom measures economic freedom of 186 countries based on trade freedom, business freedom, investment freedom, and property rights.

How is Economic Freedom Measured?

Economic freedom is measured based on 12 quantitative and qualitative factors, grouped into four broad categories, or pillars, of economic freedom:

1. Rule of Law (property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness)
2. Government Size (government spending, tax burden, fiscal health)
3. Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom)
4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom.

Each of the ten economic freedoms within these categories is graded on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall score is derived by averaging these ten economic freedoms, with equal weight being given to each. More information on the grading and methodology can be found in the appendix.

The government’s Investor Relations Office (IRO) claimed that with the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda ultimately aimed at slashing the poverty incidence to 14 percent by 2022 from 21.6 percent in 2015, the country’s economic freedom ranking is expected to further climb in the medium term.

“The IEF reveals a positive relationship between economic freedom and a variety of positive social and economic goals such as poverty elimination, greater per capita wealth, healthier societies, cleaner environments, and democracy,” the IRO noted.

n the 2017 IEF report, The Heritage Foundation “highlighted the country’s solid economic performance amid a challenging global economic environment,” according to the IRO.

“The Philippines has achieved notable economic expansion, driven by the economy’s strong export performance and inflows of remittances,” The Heritage Foundation said.

“The IEF ranking of countries is used as input by other institutions for their respective governance and competitiveness ratings, such as the World Bank for its Worldwide Governance Indicators. Likewise, the index is used by some institutions in formulating policy,” the IRO explained.

So there you have it, another excellent reason to invest in the Philippine Stock Market.  These are truly exciting investing times ahead.

You can read the full article here.