Taiwan is fourth among 50 countries and territories in the latest Profit Opportunity Recommendation report by U.S.-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence SA.
 
Finishing equal with the Netherlands but behind first-placed Switzerland, Singapore and Germany in that order, Taiwan trumped its Asian neighbors South Korea, eighth; Japan, ninth; and mainland China, 13th. This strong performance was tempered by a drop of one spot from the final edition of the triannual report in 2017.
 
Taiwan’s combined score of 68 earned it a second-best investment rating of 1B, indicating that conditions merit sustained commitment of equity. This was the same for Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Singapore, with only Switzerland achieving the top 1A rating.
 
Of the three rankings comprising the combined score, Taiwan finished 13th alongside the Netherlands in political risks. According to BERI, although local political ratings are under pressure, it is believed they will remain stable as improving economic conditions translate into increased popularity for the government.
 
Concerning operations risk, Taiwan was assessed on par with Australia and trailed only Switzerland, Germany and Canada in that order.
 
“Preliminary first-quarter data show that economic activity remained robust,” BERI said, projecting Taiwan’s real gross domestic product to increase by 2.6 percent this year, compared to the 1.1 percent gain recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
 
In terms of remittance and repatriation risks, Taiwan tied for first with the Netherlands. BERI, which is bullish on this aspect of the report, said the country’s ratings continue gaining momentum largely due to the recovering global economy and resultant rise in 2017 exports by 13.2 percent year on year to US$317.39 billion. (SFC-E)