Taiwan moved up one spot to the sixth place in the global competitiveness rankings on better government and business efficiency, the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) said yesterday.
It is the nation’s best showing since 2012 and it marked the fifth consecutive year it has advanced, even though Taiwan’s economy had declined noticeably, the IMD’s annual report said.
Taiwan was ranked the second-most competitive economy in Asia, behind Singapore, it said.
Photo: Reuters
The IMD report graded 64 economies based on their standings in four main categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
Taiwan this year gained two places in both the government efficiency and business efficiency rankings to sixth and fourth spot respectively, the report said.
The improved government efficiency came after Taiwan acted to lower government debt and bolster its financial health, said the National Development Council, which helped gather data on the nation’s behalf.
The subfactors on institutional framework, business legislation and social framework also retreated in the rankings, but the gauge on tax policy remained high at No. 4, the council said.
The progress in business efficiency reflected enhanced productivity and efficiency, and improved finances, management practices, attitudes and values, the IMD said.
Taiwanese companies are very good at using big data and analytics to support decisionmaking and demonstrate prowess at responding quickly to opportunities and threats, it said.
Local firms also beat their global peers in terms of entrepreneurship and the credibility of managers in society, it added.
However, the council said that Taiwan is relatively weak in labor market performance under the business efficiency category, falling from 17th to 25th in this year’s report.
The challenges lie particularly in the shortage of migrant and highly skilled foreign workers, the council said, adding that it would put more emphasis on retaining the foreign workforce.
The infrastructure reading climbed one spot to 12th place, thanks to healthy showings in technology infrastructure, including 4G and 5G coverage, research and development spending, and advanced technology leadership, the report said.
However, Taiwan’s economic ranking fell from ninth to 20th place, as the nation’s export-oriented economy took a hit from global economic weakness induced by drastic interest rate hikes by major central banks to curb inflation.
Denmark, Ireland and Switzerland were named the top three economies this year, while Singapore dropped one position to fourth, the Netherlands moved up one place to fifth and Hong Kong fell to seventh from fifth place, the report said.
The US improved one place to ninth, followed by the United Arab Emirates in 10th. China ranked 21st, while South Korea ranked 28th.
Additional reporting by CNA
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