Domestic investment as a ratio of GDP has lagged behind those of many other Asian countries in recent years, according to the Direc-torate General of Budget, Account-ing and Statistics (DGBAS).
The nation's average investment rate of 22.5 percent as a percentage of GDP over the past five years ranks the country at the bottom of the list of the four Asian dragons -- Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea -- the DGBAS reported. It is also lower than Japan's, officials said.
The DGBAS noted that the investment rate as a ratio of GDP is an indication of a country's economic development and its allocations of resources.
Pushed by efforts to increase infrastructure and attract foreign investment, investment rates in Asian countries are usually higher than those recorded by developed European countries and the US, DGBAS officials explained.
Japan's five-year average is 26.6 percent, while South Korea's is 27.4 percent, Hong Kong's is 28.8 percent and Singapore's is 31.8 percent.
As for government spending as a percentage of GDP, the average for the past five years is 13.5 percent. The ratio is noticeably lower than the peak of 17.4 percent registered in 1991, the officials said.
However, they said the nation's ratio is still higher than that of Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam or South Korea.
At the same time, private-sector consumption as a ratio of GDP in the last five years averages 61.1 percent, lower than the US' 67.6 percent and Britain's 65.5 percent but higher than those of Germany, France and other Asian countries.
Compared to other Asian countries, the country's percentages in private-sector consumption and government spending are relatively high, resulting in a lackluster average savings rate of 25.4 percent during the 1997 to 2001 period.
That is far lower than the figures registered by Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, the officials said.
In the area of foreign trade reliance, the DGBAS officials said the nation's ratio of 97.2 percent is high compared to those of other countries due to its relatively small domestic market.
Most countries see a foreign trade reliance of around 50 per-cent, while Hong Kong and Singapore, which rely almost entirely on foreign trade, record a rate of 267.2 percent and 319.6 percent, respectively, the officials said.
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