Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3) – The Philippines fell a number of places in terms of ‘economic freedom,’ according to the recent rankings released by a United States think tank, classifying the country as “mostly unfree.”
READ: Heritage economic freedom rankings
\”The Philippines’ economic freedom score is 59.3, making its economy the 89th freest in the 2023 Index,\” the Heritage Foundation said in a report released Feb. 27. The report covered 176 nations.
\”Its score is 1.8 points lower than last year,\” the group said. \” The Philippines ranks 18th out of 39 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and its overall score is approximately the world average,\”
Heritage defined economic freedom as the \”fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property.\”
It said that in economically free societies, \”individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please,\” and \”governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.\”
Heritage calculated the Philippines’ score of 59.3 by averaging 12 different economic freedoms broken up into four categories:
Rule of Law: Property Rights (46.4), Judicial Effectiveness (25.8), Government Integrity (34.4)
Regulatory Efficiency: Business Freedom (66.1), Labor Freedom (57.5), Monetary Freedom (68.3)
Government Size: Tax Burden (78.3), Government Spending (81.3), Fiscal Health (59.4)
Open Markets: Trade Freedom (74.4), Investment Freedom (60.0), and Financial Freedom (60.0)
The group determined this year’s scores based on data taken from the second half of 2021 up until the first half of 2022.
The Philippine economy is \”mostly unfree\” along with 64 other countries. This is also the most prevalent designation worldwide in 2023.
The global economy, as a whole, has deteriorated from a global average of 60 last year to 59.3 this year, Heritage said.
Only four countries’ economies have been deemed as \”free,\” namely, Singapore (83.9), Switzerland (83.8), Ireland (82.0), and Taiwan (80.7).
However, Heritage said the Philippine economy had been expanding despite its lower score.
\”Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Philippine economy has been expanding,\” it said. \”The government has pursued legislative reforms to enhance the entrepreneurial environment and generate greater job growth.\”
