Taiwan’s economy ranked sixth in this year’s Index of Economic Freedom, as its overall score picked up 1.5 points due primarily to an improvement in government integrity, an annual Heritage Foundation survey released yesterday showed.
The nation ranked 11th in last year’s edition of the survey.
The US think tank measures 12 freedoms, from property rights to financial freedom, grouped into four categories: rule of law; government integrity; judicial effectiveness; and regulatory efficiency and open market.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan was fourth among 40 economies in the Asia–Pacific region after Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, with an overall score of 78.6, above the regional and world averages, the survey showed.
Taiwan’s economy put up its best performance in the survey’s 27-year history, inching closer to the ranks of the free than ever before, it said.
The main factor holding Taiwan from the top economic freedom category remains a relative lack of labor freedom, it said, adding that the government raised the minimum wage again last year, despite the possibility of damage to productivity and flexibility for workers.
As of December last year, Taiwan reported only seven deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the survey called a remarkably low figure, compared with fatalities in other economies.
Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy is driven by a competitive manufacturing sector that encompasses electronics, machinery, petrochemicals, and information and communication technology products, it said.
Taiwan’s business freedom is among the highest at 93.4, and has ranked above 90 year since 2013, it said.
However, the nation’s workforce is shrinking with an aging population and there is also a shortage of blue-collar manufacturing workers, it said.
The government provides research and development grants to encourage local high-tech firms to forge partnerships with foreign companies, it said.
Taiwan has six preferential trade agreements and 380 non-tariff measures with average tariff rates standing at 2 percent, the report said, adding that some agricultural imports face additional barriers.
The nation also has a well-developed investment framework that facilitates the flow of goods and capital, it said.
The financial sector continues to evolve and expand, and the stock market is open to foreign participation.
Interests in property are protected, and the system for recording mortgages and liens is reliable, it said.
While corruption is much less prevalent today, it remains a problem, especially because politics and big business are closely intertwined, the foundation said.
The top individual income tax rate is 40 percent and the top corporate tax rate is 20 percent, while the overall tax burden equals 8.9 percent of total domestic income and public debt is equivalent to 28.2 percent of GDP, it said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS