Taiwan ranked 4th lowest risk country for investment

Taiwan's ranking in BERI's first report for 2010 on business risk assessment for 50 countries around the world rose one notch from its previous rating in December 2009, the Ministry of Economic Affairs official said.

Taiwan received a total score of 70 points in the latest BERI business risk assessment report, the same as in the previous report, the official said, adding that the rise in Taiwan's ranking mainly resulted from the Netherlands' decline.

In the latest report, Norway replaced the Netherlands as the world's third lowest risk country for investment, up from its previous fourth ranking.

Switzerland remained world's lowest risk country, followed by Singapore.

The BERI report gave Taiwan's business environment a second-best “1B” rating, meaning Taiwan is suitable for investment, the official said.

Among the three major indexes used by BERI to measure a country's business environment or profit opportunity, Taiwan received its best score of 84 points in the remittance and repatriation index, ranking third in the global rating and second among Asian countries.

The good rating in this index, which comprises the foreign exchange generation subindex, the accumulated international reserves subindex and other related factors, could be attributed to an increase in the country's merchandise trade surplus, the official said.

As Taiwan will sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China in the near future, the BERI report forecast that Taiwan's 2011 ranking in the political risk index, which comprises external cause, dependence on a hostile major power, negative influence of regional political forces and other factors, will improve from this year's 13th to 12th.

In terms of the operations risk index, Taiwan received a score of 67, up one point from the previous rating. Taiwan ranked fifth among the 50 countries assessed in terms of this index, which comprises policy continuity, attitude toward foreign investors, labor cost and productivity, short-term credit, professional services, venture capital and other factors.

Among Taiwan's major trade competitors, China moved up one notch to 15th and South Korea remained 18th.

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