THE PHILIPPINES was among the “lead reformers” in the Asia-Pacific region on trade facilitation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report.
Trade facilitation refers to measures that streamline and simplify technical and legal procedures for products at the border.
According to the OECD’s 2025 Trade Facilitation Indicators, the Philippines scored 14.97 across 11 indicators, putting it among the “leading reformers” like Laos, Kiribati, Cambodia, Maldives, Tonga, Vanuatu, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The “lead reformers” refer to countries that had the highest percentage change between their average trade facilitation performance in 2022-2024 from 2020-2022.
The Philippines ranked 15th out of 33 Asia-Pacific countries.
“Being one of the fastest nations to adopt positive reforms on trade facilitation is a welcome sign that the country is catching up with its neighboring countries,” Oikonomia Advisory and Research, Inc. economist Reinielle Matt M. Erece told BusinessWorld via Viber.
However, Mr. Erece emphasized that the Philippines must cut red tape and embrace digital integration to sustain its progress.
“Improvements in these areas will ensure faster trade activity while improving security and transparency on the borders,” he added.
The leading performers in the region in 2024 were Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia; New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, the OECD said.
Overall, South Korea was the best performer in the Asia-Pacific region with a 20.83 score, while the Federal States of Micronesia was last with a 3.41 score.
The OECD said nearly one in two economies in the Asia-Pacific improved their performance in areas of domestic border agency co-operation and information availability.
“The report shows that border bottlenecks and red tape, as measured by the OECD, were reduced on average by 3%-7% since 2022 across the 163 countries and regions covered,” it said.
The OECD also added that this resulted in trade facilitation reforms that reduced trade costs by up to 5% over the last decade. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante