Taiwan's overall business environment is the fourth-best in Asia and sixth-best in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Co (PERC).
In its 2003 business-climate report issued this month, PERC rated Taiwan as the sixth-best environment in which to do business among 14 surveyed countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region, following Singapore, the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, in that order.
Taiwan is followed by Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and Indonesia, in that order.
The PERC survey evaluated the fields of domestic social environment, external political climate, foreign businessmen's residential environment, infrastructure, education, human resources, natural environment, legal climate, business overhead costs and convenience.
The nation received a rate of 4.19 points, better than last year's 4.61 points. Zero was the best possible score on the 10-grade scaling system, while 10 was the lowest rating.
Among the 10 fields rated, the country obtained the highest rating in domestic social environment, indicating that the foreign businessmen and expatriates who have lived in Taiwan over the past year were satisfied with the nation in terms of residence, medical care, children's education and personal security, according to officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Meanwhile, according to the survey, the country's political environment index was rated eighth in the Asia-Pacific region, with a score of 5.65, behind Singapore, the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, in that order.
The survey evaluated the fields of transparency of governmental policy, the quality of laws and regulations, the quality of governmental policy, the quality of political leadership and the efficiency of economic policy execution.
Taiwan was followed in this area by China, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, India and Indonesia, in that order.
PERC also predicted that Taiwan's economic growth will top 3.7 percent this year, with export trade reaching US$139.2 billion and import trade amounting to US$124.5 billion.
The nation's foreign exchange reserves are expected to exceed US$180 billion by the end of this year, the company forecast.
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