Committee formed to measure trade competitiveness of Cebu

Stakeholders in the public and private sector will form a committee that will collect data needed to measure Cebu’s competitiveness.

Guillermo Luz, co-chair of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), met with businessmen, government officials and professors in Cebu City last week to discuss the plan to form the committee.

The committee will gather data on Cebu’s local economy, governance, infrastructure, quality of life, cost of doing business, and human resources.

Data on these key indicators, Luz said, will be used to compare Cebu’s competitiveness with that of cities in other Asean countries.

The NNC, an agency composed of representatives from the public and private sector, aims to improve the country’s competitiveness.

“We keep track of about six global competitiveness reports,” Luz told reporters yesterday.

Luz said he has been going around the country to meet with stakeholders in the public and private sector.

The purpose of making regional competitiveness committees, which will be composed of representatives from the private and public sector, is to make regional report cards, Luz said.

In terms of competitiveness, Luz said the Philippines ranked seventh out of the eight member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The country was only ahead of Cambodia. Luz said the country’s goal is to outrank Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The country will have a hard time catching up with Singapore, which is considered the most competitive Asean country, Luz said.

“We have a pretty good performance last year,” said Luz, noting that the World Economic Forum raised the country’s ranking by 10 notches last year.

The country should improve its competitiveness to attract more investors, Luz said. “As a country, we are competing for investment.”

He said the NNC monitors as many as 500 indicators to determine the country’s competitiveness.

They create a task force to act on indicators where the country performs poorly.

These indicators include governance, infrastructure, innovation, labor market efficiency and education.

The country’s macroeconomic management and technological readiness are among the indicators where the country performs best.

This year, Luz said the NNC hopes to come up with a national competitiveness plan based on the data collected by regional competitiveness committees.

They will also continue to monitor the country’s standing in global competitiveness reports and create industry roadmaps.

Luz said they hope to create at least eight regional committees.

Cebu Business Club president Dondi Joseph will lead the creation of the committee in Cebu.

original source: www.sunstar.com.ph