Taiwan's business climate 4th-best in Asia: PERC

Taipei, April 21, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan's overall business environment is the fourth-best in Asia and sixth-beast in the Asia Pacific region, according to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Co. (PERC).

In its 2003 business climate report issued in April, PERC rated Taiwan as the sixth-best environment in which to do business among 14 surveyed countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region, following Singapore, the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, in that order.

Taiwan is followed by Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, mainland China, is followed by Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and mainland China, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and Indonesia, in that order, in terms of business climate, according the latest PERC survey.

The PERC survey assessed the fields of domestic social environment, external political climate, foreign businessmen's residential environment, infrastructure, legal, climate, business overhead costs and convenience.

Taiwan received a rate of 4.19 points, better than last year's 4.61 points. Zero was the best possible score on the 10-grade scaling system, while 10 was the lowest rating.

Among the 10 fields rated, Taiwan obtained the highest rating in domestic social environment, indicating that the foreign businessmen and expatriates who have lived in Taiwan over the past year were satisfied with Taiwan in terms of residence, medical care, children's education and personal security, according to officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Meanwhile, according to the PERC survey, Taiwan's political environment index was rated eighth in the Asia-Pacific region, with a score of 5.65, behind Singapore, the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

They survey evaluated the fields of transparency of governmental policy, the quality of laws and regulations, the quality of government policy, the quality of political leadership and the efficiency of economic policy execution.

Taiwan has followed in this area by mainland China, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines , India, and Indonesia.

PERC also predicted that Taiwan's economic growth will top 3.7% this year, with the export trade reaching US$139.2 billion and import trade US$124.5 billion. The island's foreign exchange reserves are expected to exceed US$180 billion by the end of the year, it forecast.