THE Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) will jointly compile various competitiveness metrics to be monitored via a so-called “dashboard.”

“We are collaborating with ARTA in putting together a competitiveness dashboard website where indicators and indices relevant to national competitiveness will be available for anyone to track how the Philippines fares relative to other countries,” Jamil Paolo S. Francisco, executive director of AIM’s Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness, told BusinessWorld.

“This will serve as a quick and reliable reference for investors from here and abroad to assess the country’s standing and recent performance vis-a-vis other countries in areas such as business efficiency, ease of doing business, digital and talent readiness, among others,” Mr. Francisco added.

The project will consolidate independently released indices in a single website.

“This may also provide positive pressure on our national and local government and private sector leaders to adopt strategies aimed at tackling hurdles to Philippine competitiveness,” Mr. Franciso said.

Asked to comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said the collaboration will point policymakers towards the appropriate intervention measures.

“This would (constitute) anecdotal evidence on sources of competitiveness and the intervention measures needed to address these shortcomings more effectively and in a more measured manner,” Mr. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

“This will also guide the private sector and foreign investors accordingly and also make them aware of the adjustments needed… and to (help them) lobby policymakers for changes,” he added.

Last week, ARTA Director General Ernesto V. Perez cited the need to collaborate after AIM cited slow processing times by government agencies and inaccurate data as the key challenges in monitoring competitiveness.

“Last year they shared that the reason why it is hard for them to submit updated figures is because it is difficult for them to get responses from the agencies, not being to get the data on time or receiving inaccurate data,” Mr. Perez said.

“With ARTA on board, as we are mandated to require agencies to respond within the appropriate period, the chances will be better to improve our competitiveness ranking by way of gathering more accurate and updated data from government agencies,” he added.

He said that ARTA and AIM signed a memorandum of understanding in December and are currently in the preliminary planning stages for the project.

“We only had two to three meetings with them, I think I will be able to share more about our collaboration later this year,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

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