Taiwan's global competitiveness ranking rose to 13th this year after declining for two consecutive years to end up in 18th place last year, an annual report released on Wednesday by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD) showed.
Evaluated on four main factors, Taiwan’s ranking advanced from 20th place last year to 16th this year in terms of government efficiency, from 17th to 10th in terms of business efficiency, and from 21st to 17th in terms of infrastructure.
Economic performance was the only area in which Taiwan saw a decline, dropping from 16th place last year to 21st this year, according to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008, which covers 55 economies worldwide.
Of all the sub-factors included in the survey, the nation’s worst performance was in terms of international investment, with the ranking sliding two notches from last year to 44th this year. Taiwan’s international trade ranking, meanwhile, slipped 12 notches to 28th place.
Among the nation’s best-performing sub-factors were its fiscal policy, which was ranked third worldwide, its scientific infrastructure in fourth place and its technological infrastructure, which was ranked fifth.
The nation’s improvement in overall competitiveness this year again placed it ahead of China, whose ranking dropped from 15th last year to 17th this year.
From being ranked 12th in 2004, Taiwan gained one notch to reach 11th place in 2005, but fell to 17th in 2006 and to 18th last year.
The report said the world’s three most competitive economies this year remained the US, Singapore and Hong Kong, the same as last year.
Rounding out the top 10 list were Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands.
SOURCE: CNA:
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