by Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
The Philippines is the biggest mover in the Network Readiness Index (NRI) 2022 ranking 71st from 85th last year out of the 131 economies that highlighted impact as the country’s main strength and technology as its biggest concern for improvement.
The NRI 2022 released by the Portulans Institute, a Washington DC Board think tank, is one of the leading global indices on the application and impact on information and communication technology (ICT) in economies around the world.
Based on the NRI, which has four major pillars, the Philippines ranked 85th under the technology pillar, 82nd on governance pillar, 73rd on people, and 50th on impact.
When it comes to sub-pillars, the strongest showing of the Philippines relates to economy, individuals, and future technologies, among others. But it also showed that more could be done to improve the economy’s performances in the businesses, inclusion and SDG Contribution.
The report cited the Philippines as the year’s “biggest mover”, with Impact as its main strength and Technology as greatest scope for improvement. The Philippines performed considerably well on e-Commerce legislation, High Tech exports, and ICT services exports.
The report also cited the Philippines as number number five among the 36 lower middle income economies included in the report, outperforming in ten sub pillars: access, content, future technologies, individuals, governments, trust, regulation, inclusion, economy, and quality of life.
The Philippines was ranked 5th in the group of lower-middle-income countries. In terms of pillar performance, it has a score higher than the income group average in each of the four pillars. At the sub-pillar level, the Philippines outperforms lower-middle-income countries in ten of the 12 sub-pillars: access, content, future technologies, individuals, governments, trust, regulation, inclusion, economy, and quality of life.
The country also ranked 13th within Asia and the Pacific, but lags behind its region in each of the four pillars. With regard to sub-pillars, it outperforms the average in Asia and Pacific in two of the twelve sub-pillars: individuals and economy.
In a statement, Trade Secretary Fred Pascual said the Portulans Institute for recognizing the Philippines as one of the champions of digital transformation, this is a testament to the continuing efforts of the Philippine government to transform the country into a digital economy.
“It shows that we are a country composed of digital natives, and it indeed gives us a demographic advantage. We are mindful of this advantage and recognize that the digital economy is about people and technology, so we are ramping up efforts to promote science, technology and innovation, as our main strategy,” Pascual said.
According to Pascual, several initiatives are on the pipeline. In terms of legislation, the enactment of the proposed Internet Transactions Act (ITA) and amendments to the E-Commerce Act are also underway. Digital transformation initiatives to address upskilling and reskilling of human capital and businesses are also being scaled up. Further, E-Government or the automation of government processes are also being pursued through a whole-of-government approach.
Pascual noted that the Department is driving the formulation of the updated eCommerce Philippines Roadmap 2023-2025 which is designed to be more inclusive—including the youth, women, senior citizens and PWD sector, to help build a more robust e-commerce industry.
The DTI also serves as a key partner of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on financial inclusion and digitizing merchant payments. Relative to this, the Department, through the E-Commerce Office launched the e-Bayad Mo! social media campaign including a pay drama series as part of the its initiatives toward acceleration of digital payments adoption in the Philippines.
Further ramping up the Campaign and in support of the BSP’s financial inclusion program, an e-Bayad Mo! Regional Caravan is set to be launched, which will provide financial literacy sessions to encourage and discuss the benefits of using digital payments.
In closing, Pascual said that “the report highlights that digital natives will build and manage the future of the world. Our country’s median age is 25 years old and about 40% of our population are digital natives (20 years and below). With our huge base of young, highly-mobile workforce and consumers, we have more than enough economic assets to inspire the government and incentivize the private sector towards Network Readiness.”
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