Taiwan has maintained its ranking as the fifth-lowest-risk country for investment among 50 nations evaluated by the US-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI), the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The latest issue of BERI’s business risk assessment report, published every four months, continued to give Taiwan’s business environment the highest-level “1A” rating, classifying it as a country favorable for investment.
Worldwide, Taiwan’s overall ranking was lower only than Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands and Norway.
In Asia, Taiwan was rated second after Singapore and was ahead of Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Among the three sub-indices used for the evaluation, Taiwan showed the greatest decline in its operations risk rating, down four notches from the previous evaluation conducted late last year, to rank seventh after Switzerland, Singapore, Belgium, Norway, Austria and the Netherlands.
The BERI report said that almost all the countries evaluated saw a fall in their operations risk index because of the global financial crisis, with Taiwan no exception.
In terms of the remittance and repatriation factor, Taiwan maintained its previous ranking at fifth place.
The country’s political risk in terms of investment was rated 11th-lowest, the same as the previous evaluation, and BERI predicted that the political situation in Taiwan would be stable in the coming years as the country’s relations with China continue to improve.
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