According to the 2001 Global Competitiveness Report released yesterday by the World Economic Forum, Taiwan ranks as the seventh most competitive country in the world.
The report, measuring the strengths and weaknesses of national economies, has been issued annually since 1979.
In this year's report, Taiwan's seventh place ranking in the Growth Competitiveness Index is three places higher than last year, and surpasses Hong Kong (13th place) while moving up on fourth-place Singapore.
Taiwan also placed 21st in the Current Competitiveness Index, lagging behind Singapore and Hong Kong in 10th and 18th place, respectively.
The two indexes are based on a nation's GDP, and the Growth Index reflects the next five-year's economic growth, while the Current Index indicates current economic performance.
China ranks 30th in the Growth Index and 47th in the Current Index.
Meanwhile, the Forum also conducted a "flash survey" between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1 to assess the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on global economies.
The survey indicated East Asian countries, especially Taiwan and Singapore, whose outputs are closely linked to the US, were already suffering before Sept. 11 and are likely to bear a heavy burden if the US market continues its downturn.
"Although Taiwan and Singapore rank highly on the competitiveness indexes, [we estimate] they are being severely affected by the fallout," the report said.
In addition, countries heavy in debt or dependent on tourism as a significant source of national income are expected to be hard hit as well.
To protect economies from further pain, the forum suggest policy makers employ confidence-building measures to stimulate consumer and corporate demand and help maintain international production network efficiency.
As for countries already in recession, central banks should try to ensure the supply of liquidity by selling enough greenbacks to prevent further appreciation of national currencies, among other measures, the forum said.
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