Taiwan saw its ranking improve one place to become the third-best investment destination in the world’s 50 major countries, on a par with Norway, but behind Singapore and Switzerland, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday, citing a US-based research institute’s latest report.
In Asia, Taiwan retained its position as the second-best investment destination after Singapore, according to the survey conducted by Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) last month, the ministry’s department of investment services said in a statement.
With a score of 73 points in the profit opportunity recommendation (POR) category, Taiwan was given a “1B” rating among the surveyed economies, classifying the nation as a favorable investment environment, the ministry said.
The global average score was 51.9, the report showed.
“Taiwan is likely to remain the third-best investment destination in the world next year and until 2016,” the ministry said, citing the BERI report.
Among major Asian economies, Taiwan was ahead of Japan, which ranked No. 11 in the world; China, which ranked No. 13; Malaysia, which ranked No. 16; South Korea, which ranked No. 17 and Australia, which was No. 19, the report showed.
The latest BERI report was the second survey by the US research institute this year. The institute surveys the investment climate and competitiveness of the 50 economies in April, August and December every year, based on its evaluations of a country’s investment environment in three sub-indices: operational risk, political risk and foreign exchange risk.
In the latest report, Taiwan had the second-lowest operational risks in the world, on a par with Switzerland and behind Singapore, and is expected to be third-lowest through 2016.
BERI said Taiwan’s business climate remained good and the government was expected to increase investment in pubic infrastructure over the next five years, while the domestic hotel industry was likely to invest NT$77 billion (US$2.7 billion) in the next three years to meet customer demand, including demand from Chinese tourists.
Regarding the political risk sub-index, Taiwan saw its ranking move up one place to the seventh-lowest position in the world from the eighth-lowest in the previous survey.
BERI indicated that the nation’s political risk had come under control with an improved cross-strait relationship, which has in turn allowed the country to engage in free-trade talks with other nations and organizations such as the EU, and that would likely help boost Taiwan’s advancement to sixth place in the sub-index next year.
Meanwhile, Taiwan retained its foreign exchange risk in terms of both remittance and repatriation at the third-lowest in the world, as the previous survey, behind Singapore and Switzerland, BERI said.
The country’s foreign exchange risk would likely continue ranking the third-lowest in the world through 2016, the report said.
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