THE Philippines’ ranking in a global competitiveness report dropped 10 notches to the 76th level from last year’s 66th, a global competitiveness report of the World Economic Forum said.The country ranked 76th in the global competitive index with 3.51 GCI. Taiwan ranked 4th with a GCI score of 5.72 out of 104 countries, followed by Singapore, 7th place, 5.56; Japan, 9th, 5.48; Hong Kong, 21st, 5.06; Korea, 29th, 4.90; Malaysia, 31st, 4.88; Thailand, 34th, 4.58; China, 46th, 4.29; and Vietnam, 77th with 3.47. The global competitiveness index is composed of three “pillars,” all of which are widely accepted as being critical to economic growth: the quality of the macroeconomic environment; the state of a country’s public institutions; and, given the increasing importance of technology in development, a country’s technological readiness.These three pillars are brought together in the three indexes of the GCI: the macroeconomic environment index, the public institutions index and the technology index.According to the reports, countries showing the largest declines in rankings in 2004, including the Philippines, are those with significant deteriorations in one or more areas tracked by the index.The highly visible instances of official corruption, a crackdown on press freedom and other civil liberties that contribute to capital outflows and harden the mood of the business community, political instability linked to domestic infighting, in some cases leading to civil unrest, and a weakening in the rule of law have, to a greater or lesser degree, affected the low rankings of other countries including the Philippines.In the technology index, Taiwan got the highest score with 6.04, ranking second out of the total 104 countries.In fifth place was Japan with 5.68; Singapore, 11th, 5.11; Malaysia, 27th, 4.67; Thailand, 43rd, 4.24; the Philippines, 61st, 3.72; China, 62nd, 3.72; India, 63th, 3.72 and Indonesia, 73rd, 3.31.In public institutions index, the Philippines ranked among the lowest—99—out of 104 countries. Asian countries that got the lowest score were Vietnam, China, India, Thailand, Korea and Malaysia.Hong Kong got the highest rank among Asian countries, followed by Singapore, Japan and Taiwan.In the macroeconomic environment index, Singapore ranked first, followed by Taiwan in 9th place; Hong Kong, 13th; Malaysia, 20th; Thailand, 23rd; Japan, 29th; Korea, 35th; Vietnam 58th; and the Philippines 69th.In the business competitive index, the Philippines ranked 70th in overall BCI; Japan and Singapore ranked 8th and 10th in overall BCI. They were followed by Hong Kong, 11th; Taiwan, 17th; Malaysia, 23rd; Korea, 24th; Thailand, 37th; and China, 47th.In Asia the report said the rankings are quiet stable, with some small improvements, notably Indonesia and, more significantly, Japan and small decreases in the rankings, as with Malaysia and Thailand.The report noted two countries in the region that stand out for their significant drop in rankings: Korea and Vietnam.Korea said it is linked to a significant decline in the macroeconomic environment subindex, falling from 23rd last year from 35th this year; Korea also experienced declines in the other two areas measured by the GCI.Vietnam’s decline, on the other hand, is linked to significant drops in all three areas, particularly regarding public institutions and technology.