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The Philippines fell seven places to 65th out of 181 economies in the latest Global Connectedness Report by DHL and New York University’s Stern School of Business
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The country’s decline in ranking in 2022 from 58th in 2017 coincides with a drop in index to 52.1 out of 100 in 2022 from 52.4 in 2017
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The Philippines is one of the 38 countries that saw their levels of connectedness decline while 143 countries became more globally connected
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Globalization peaked in 2022 and remained close to that level in 2023 despite a series of global shocks over the past decade, including a pandemic, wars and trade conflicts
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Deglobalization is a risk, not the current reality, according to the report
NEW DELHI — The Philippines fell seven places to 65th out of 181 economies in the latest Global Connectedness Report (GCR) by DHL and New York University’s Stern School of Business launched in this city on March 13.
The country’s decline in ranking in 2022 from 58th in 2017 reflects a drop in index to 52.1 out of 100 in 2022 from 52.4 in 2017, according to the GCR 2024.
It must be noted that the 2022 report underwent changes in methodology, thus its results were not compared with 2021’s but with 2017. The “data used to compute the index have been completely updated… As a result, trend analysis should be done comparing results over time within a single edition of the index, not comparing results between separately published editions,” the report noted.
The Philippines is one of the 38 countries that saw their levels of connectedness decline while 143 countries became more globally connected.
The annual report analyzes the state and trajectory of globalization by tracking how flows of trade, capital, information, and people move around the world.
The 2024 edition is based on almost nine million data points and ranks the connectedness of 181 countries, accounting for 99.7% of the world’s gross domestic product and 98.7% of its population.
In terms of depth (international flows relative to total activity), the Philippines saw a drop in 2022 to 126th place from 120th in 2017, and an index of 43.9 from 44.1.
The country had the highest rank in breath (distribution of international flows across countries) at 29th place in 2022 but it was a decline from 27th place in 2017. The index also fell to 61.9 from 62.4 in 2017.
On the trade pillar, the country fell to 60th place from 50th in 2017 as the index slipped to 52.9 from 53.4.
For the capital pillar, the Philippine ranking dropped to 54th (50.7) from 45th (51.5).
From 69th in 2017 the country landed in 52nd place in 2022 even though its index improved to 51.5 from 50.4 for the information pillar.
No data was provided for the people pillar.
The US remained the top country in terms of its share of the Philippines’ international flows. It was followed by China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, and Taiwan.
Among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Singapore achieved the number one spot as the most globally connected country.
Malaysia ranked 26th, followed by Thailand (39th), Vietnam (45th), Cambodia (60th), Brunei (75th), Indonesia (109th), Myanmar (137th), and Laos (140th).
According to the report, globalization reached a record high in 2022 and remained close to that level in 2023 despite a series of global shocks over the past decade, including a pandemic, wars, and trade conflict.
The report also affirms the considerable potential to continue growing global flows. The level of globalization is currently pegged at 25% (from a scale running from 0%, or nothing crosses national borders at all, to 100%, or a “frictionless” world where borders and distance have ceased to matter), which means it is still closer to a world of separate countries than to a fully globalized one.
The report further shows that predictions of a global shift from globalization to regionalization are not – at least not yet – borne out in patterns of international flows.
Most international flows, the report noted, are taking place over stable or even longer distances, with a declining share happening inside major geographic regions.
Steven Altman, senior research scholar and director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU Stern’s Center for the Future of Management, said deglobalization is still only a risk a not a current reality.
The launch was attended by high-ranking DHL executives, including DHL Express CEO John Pearson. – Roumina Pablo
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