The drop in the country's rating in Forbes' Best Countries for Business list is a continuing challenge for the government, a Malacañang official said yesterday.

The Philippines' slid to 90th place out of 145 countries in the listing's 2013 edition, three notches lower a year earlier, data from the Forbes' websites showed.

Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said there is room for improvement for the Philippines to fare much better on the list, which Ireland topped.

We acknowledge there is room for improvement in all those aspects. We view as a continuing challenge the need to improve our business processes, Coloma said.

He said the Philippines will seek to move as close as possible to the top of the list.

But he said this would also require the efforts of the private sector.

Forbes said it determined the best countries for business by grading the nations on factors including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

Each category was equally weighted, the firm said.

The data came from published reports from the following organizations: Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, World Bank and World Economic Forum, it also said.*PP/PNA

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