Taiwan ties Japan in BERI investment climate rankings

Taiwan tied with Japan for fourth-place in a global investment climate survey released recently by the US-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) market research firm.

BERI studies the investment climates and competitiveness of the world's 50 major economies regularly. Its latest survey was released earlier this week.

Switzerland boasts the best investment climate among the 50 economies studied, followed by Singapore and the Netherlands in that order.

Among Asian economies, Singapore ranks first in terms of its investment climate, while Taiwan ties with Japan at second.

According to the BERI report, Taiwan's investment climate belongs in the top "A" category, meaning that Taiwan is a low-risk investment destination.

The report predicts that Taiwan will witness an evident economic recovery next year and that the island's overall investment climate score will rise to 73 points on a zero-to-100 scale from this year's 72 points.

It also foresees further improvement in the island's investment climate five years from now. By 2008, it forecasts, the island's investment climate score will rise to 74 points, with its world rating remaining fourth.

BERI gauges a country's investment climates based on three major indicators -- the business risk index, the political risk index and the currency exchange rate risk. More specifically, BERI evaluates business risks and profitability a multinational company faces while investing in a specific country.

In the business risk index, Taiwan receives a score of 71 points, ranking fourth among the 50 economies studied. But its political risk index is less than ideal, ranking 12th with a score of 62.