Taiwan rose up one spot from last year to be ranked the 6th most competitive economy in the world this year, based on an annual report by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) released on Tuesday (June 20), its highest ranking in 11 years.

In the 2023 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, Taiwan placed 6th out of 64 economies, an improvement from its ranking of 7th last year and its best performance since 2012. In Asia, Taiwan also improved over last year’s ranking to reach second place, trailing only Singapore (fourth) as Hong Kong dropped to seventh.

In terms of economies with a population of 20 million or more, Taiwan is the most competitive and it has held this top spot for three years.

Taiwan’s rise in the overall rankings is due to improvements in three out of the four main categories. This year, Taiwan’s government efficiency rating rose from 8th to 6th, its business efficiency climbed from 6th to 4th, and its infrastructure improved from 13th to 12th.

However, Taiwan’s economic performance dropped from 11th to 20th. This was due to factors such as the slowdown in the global economy, the decline in market demand for Taiwan’s products, and inventory adjustments in the manufacturing industry, and the comparison with the high level of economic growth rate seen the previous year, according to the National Development Council.

Maintaining its spot as the most competitive economy in the world was Denmark, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, Netherlands, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sweden, US, and United Arab Emirates, rounding out the top 10. The institute said that the top three on the list are “small economies that make good use of their access to markets and trading partners.”

The institute ranks economies based on 164 competitiveness criteria, which are grouped into four factors, including economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. Hard data such as national employment and trade statistics comprises two-thirds of the overall ranking results, while survey data from its 92-question survey given to 6,400 senior executives makes up the remaining one-third.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4923576

Category: Taiwan