TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Taiwan ranked as the 16th most competitive economy in the world this year, based on an annual report by Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) released on Tuesday (May 28).
In the 2019 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, Taiwan placed 16th out of 63 economies on the list, an improvement from its ranking as 17th last year. In Asia, Taiwan repeated its ranking at 4th place, trailing only Singapore (1st), Hong Kong (2nd), and China (3rd).
The top 10 most competitive economies on the list were Singapore, Hong Kong, the U.S., Switzerland, the UAE, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, and Qatar. The institute said that competitiveness in all economies this year had been affected by "uncertainty in global markets due to changes in the international political landscape and in trade relations."
The institute ranks economies based on over 235 indicators, which are grouped into four factors, including macroeconomic performance, business efficiency, government efficiency, and infrastructure. The report weighs "hard" data such as national employment and trade statistics twice as much as "soft" data from its Executive Opinion Survey.
As for Taiwan's ranking in these four factors, it ranked 12th in government efficiency, 14th in business efficiency, 15th in economic performance, and 19th in infrastructure. Taiwan's greatest improvement was in business efficiency, as it went from 20th in 2018 to 14th this year.
Source Taiwan News
