The nation fell one notch to 15th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report released on Tuesday, fifth among nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the competitiveness rankings of Asia-Pacific nations and territories, Taiwan finished behind Singapore (third overall), Hong Kong (sixth), Japan (ninth) and New Zealand (13th), but ahead of Australia (21st), Malaysia (23rd), South Korea (26th) and China (27th).
National Development Council Deputy Minister Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮) said the nation’s overall ranking this year was stable compared with the past four years, when Taiwan was ranked 14th twice and 15th twice.
In the 2017-2018 competitiveness report, the World Economic Forum assessed the competitiveness of 137 economies based on 114 indicators grouped in three subindices: basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation and sophistication factors.
In the basic requirement subindex, Taiwan’s ranking fell one notch to 15th place.
It ranked 30th and 15th respectively in the institutions and health and primary education categories within the subindex, but rose nine places to fifth in the macroeconomic environment category.
Taiwan fell two spots to 15th in the infrastructure category, mainly due to sharp declines in the quality of harbor construction, electricity supply and air transportation infrastructure, as well as the number of mobile phone users.
Chiou said that the rankings reflected the need for the government’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
In the efficiency enhancers subindex, Taiwan maintained its 16th-place ranking.
Among the six main categories of the subindex, Taiwan rose five notches to 25th in technological readiness, but fell four notches to 19th in the financial market development category.
In terms of the innovation and sophistication subindex, Taiwan rose two places to 15th, remaining 11th in innovation, but rising one spot to 21st for business sophistication.
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