Taiwan is the third best destination in the world for foreign investors, said a report in the US-based Foreign Policy magazine, which evaluated 112 countries.
In the Baseline Profitability Index (BPI), Taiwan’s BPI value this year is 1.2, unchanged from last year, which meant the nation maintained its position as the world’s third-best investment target.
The top destination was Botswana with a BPI value of 1.31, followed by Hong Kong with 1.22.
The BPI report, presented by economist Daniel Altman, assessed eight factors — economic growth, financial stability, physical security, corruption, expropriation by government, exploitation by local partners, capital controls, and exchange rates — to determine the investment value of an economy.
The index predicted how much an asset’s value grows, the preservation of that value while the asset is owned and the ease of bringing home the proceeds from selling the asset.
This year, in the report’s second iteration, Taiwan is ranked seventh in terms of asset growth, up from 10th last year, which indicates that despite stiff competition in emerging markets, the nation can still give foreign investors a good return.
In the category of value preservation, Taiwan is 23rd, dropping one notch from last year, while it was ranked 34th in terms of capital repatriation, up two places from last year.
In the overall rankings, Taiwan is followed by Qatar, which rose four notches from last year; Singapore, maintained its fifth place; and India, which also held the same position — sixth place — last year.
Among other Asian countries, South Korea is in 19th place, rising three notches from the previous year, while Japan climbed sharply from 92nd to 70th this year.
Meanwhile, China plummeted from 43rd last year to 60th this year in the BPI rankings.
“The index takes a dim view of Chinese property rights, perhaps because of the country’s nominally communist system,” the report said. “China’s expectations for growth dimmed significantly as well, pushing it still further down the rankings to 60th place in 2014.”
The report said that Japan has become more attractive as an investment destination since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe adopted an expansion policy in terms of money supply.
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