Taiwan ranked sixth in this year’s Index of Economic Freedom, the same as last year, but its overall score gained 1.5 points to 80.1, joining the “Free” index category for the first time, thanks to improvements in judicial effectiveness and labor freedom, the Heritage Foundation said in an annual survey released yesterday.
The US think tank grades 12 indicators in 184 economies — from property rights to financial freedom — grouped into four categories: rule of law; government integrity; judicial effectiveness; and regulatory efficiency and open market.
“Taiwan is one of the few countries in the world to have experienced continuous economic growth during the past five years. Economic freedom has increased significantly during that period as well,” the Washington-based foundation said.
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Taiwan ranked third among 39 nations in the Asia-Pacific region and its overall score was higher than the regional and global averages, the foundation said.
By comparison, South Korea was ranked 19th, Japan 35th and China 158th.
With strong scores across the board inflated by improved judicial effectiveness and labor freedom, Taiwan recorded a 3.6 point gain in economic freedom since 2017, it said.
The National Development Council said the government’s efforts to pursue economic freedom had paid off, adding that Taiwan now lags behind Luxembourg and New Zealand by just 0.5 points. Singapore leads the survey, followed by Switzerland and Ireland.
Taiwan’s judicial effectiveness scored 94.2, an increase of 21.3 points from a year earlier, the council said, adding that the nation gained 10 points in investment freedom to 70 and added 8.3 points to labor freedom at 68.7.
Taiwan’s currency freedom picked up 1.8 points to 86.1, but it lost points in business freedom, property rights, government integrity, government spending and fiscal health, the survey showed.
Additional improvements in business freedom and financial freedom would propel Taiwan’s economic freedom even higher, the foundation said.
Taiwan put up a flat showing in trade freedom and financial freedom from the previous year, it said.
Taiwan has six preferential trade agreements in force with the trade-weighted average tariff rate at 2 percent and 391 non-tariff measures in effect. Some agricultural imports face extra barriers, the survey found.
As of Dec. 1 last year, Taiwan had reported 848 deaths attributable to COVID-19 and the government’s response to the pandemic ranked 94th among nations in terms of its stringency, it said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday received representatives from the Heritage Foundation, including founder Edwin Feulner Jr and research fellow Anthony Kim, at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Tsai outlined the government’s efforts and achievements in creating a more open economy and liberalized trade, and said she expects a closer Taiwan-US relationship in light of upcoming free-trade and digital economy talks between Taipei and Washington.
Feulner said that Taiwan is an important ally and a cornerstone of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy.
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