Taiwan Ranks 18th Freest Economy in the World in 2012.

　On January 12, 2012, The US Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal publicized the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, according to which Taiwan is ranked the 18th freest among the 179 economies worldwide and also comes in 5th out of 41 countries in the Asia Pacific region, after only Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia.  Taiwan also finished third in East Asia, outperforming Korea in the 30th place and Japan in the 22nd.

　Taiwan’s ranking moves up 7 notches from the 25th in 2011, its highest ranking for the eleven years, with economic freedom score at 71.9 points which is 1.1 higher than 70.8 in 2011 and makes Taiwan’s improvements in four straight years in six items of government spending, freedom from corruption, business freedom, fiscal freedom, monetary freedom, and labor freedom.

　According to this annual report, Taiwan government’s strong commitment to structural reform and openness to global commerce has enabled Taiwan to become one of the world’s 20 freest economies.  Taiwan’s dynamic economy is also a result of a well-developed legal framework, a tradition of private-sector entrepreneurial dynamism, open-market policies, and the well competitiveness of small and medium-size enterprises.  In addition, the recent implementation of a 17% corporate tax rate and elimination of minimum capital requirement for establishing a company have contributed to the efficient business environment in Taiwan.  Although the level of state involvement in economy remains considerable, government spending is under well control.  Despite the aforesaid progress, Taiwan’s government spending is equivalent to 16% of GDP, which is lower than those of most countries in the world.

　The evaluation standards consist of 10 items since the index was created in 1995, including business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property right, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom.  The top 10 freest economies in the world are Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Mauritius, Ireland, and the US.  Hong Kong has held the first spot for 18 consecutive years.

　Taiwan’s rise in the ranking in economic freedom reflects Taiwan government’s correct implementation of deregulation in financial and economic aspects and also the fruits of the continuous reform fulfilled by Taiwan’s Council for Economic Planning and Development that sets up a task force to study all of the international ranking indicators and map out reform measures of improving Taiwan’s weak indicators.  (2012.01)

Top 20 Freest Economies in the World for 2012
World Rank	Country	Overall Score	Score Change from 2011	World Rank	Country	Overall Score	Score Change from 2011
1	Hong Kong	89.9	+0.2	11	Denmark	76.2	-2.4
2	Singapore	87.5	+0.3	12	Bahrain	75.2	-2.5
3	Australia	83.1	+0.6	13	Luxembourg	74.5	-1.7
4	New Zealand	82.1	-0.2	14	United Kingdom	74.1	-0.4
5	Switzerland	81.1	-0.8	15	The Netherlands	73.3	-1.4
6	Canada	79.9	-0.9	16	Estonia	73.2	-2.0
7	Chile	78.3	+0.9	17	Finland	72.3	-1.7
8	Mauritius	77.0	+0.8	18	Taiwan	71.9	+1.1
9	Ireland	76.9	-1.8	19	Macao	71.8	-1.3
10	United States	76.3	-1.5	20	Cyprus	71.8	-1.5
Source:  The US Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org/index/)

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