Amidst the chaos and turmoils of corruption and issues on summary executions, it is a warm and a welcoming news to hear that the Philippines outranked 20 countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and Singapore, as the best market to invest for 2018, according to American financial and business news website Business Insider.
The news came straight from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III who said that the country’s strong and solid macroeconomic fundamentals and the government’s fiscal reforms enabled the Philippines to top the list of 20 best countries to invest in this year.
In a statement among the reasons the Philippines was chosen as number one on the list, Dominguez mentioned the reasons “could be the young and hardworking workforce, an excellent inclusive growth momentum and expanding middle class and politically stable environment.”
Dominguez, the Duterte administration’s leader of economic managers, also mentioned the strong and popular leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, fiscal discipline, stable monetary policy, the country’s active membership in Asean, an achievable infrastructure program, strong anti-corruption drive and improved revenue collection.
“It is a result of teamwork,” Dominguez said.
Business Insider said in an article that to qualify as a country worthy of investment, certain standards should be met, citing a World Bank Group report highlighting four factors: the country’s people, environment, relationships and framework that propel both individuals and corporations to invest in a given country’s natural resources, markets, technologies or brands.
“Guided by the report from the World Bank Group, US News identified the best countries to invest in for 2018,” the news website said.
“Last month, US News released their 2018 Best Countries ranking. To determine the overall list, US News surveyed over 21,000 people worldwide about 80 different countries, measuring them on 65 different attributes, including cultural influence, entrepreneurship and quality of life,” it said.
Indonesia came in the second place, followed by Poland, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Spain, Thailand, India, Oman, Czech Republic, Finland, Uruguay, Turkey, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France and Chile.
The Philippines has a population of 103.3 million and gross domestic product of $304.9 billion.