Taiwan Weak in Asia as Foreign Investment Magnet

Taipei, March 14, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan ranked world's No. 33 in terms of its ability to attract foreign investment between 2007 and 2009, according to Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), which cited the result of a survey done by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Taiwan's corresponding ranking in Asia is No. 11, which is far behind many of its neighboring rivals, even lagging behind the Philippines. Globally, China and India are numbers one and two as the most preferable by foreign investors, as well as being the two most populous nations.

CEPD officials indicated that the UNCTAD poll randomly selected 1,500 CEOs out of the world's 5,000 international enterprises; however only 20% responded to the survey, so the officials here believe that such result might be misleading and should be viewed with a grain of salt.

The UNCTAD survey showed that from 2007 to 2009 the world's top two magnets of foreign capital is China and India, followed by the United States, Russia and Brazil. The Gold BRIC members, or namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China, proved their worth by showing up as the four of the world's top five magnets of foreign investment. Besides, emerging economies such as Vietnam and Poland also are shown to be leading performers as foreign investment magnets, with the former taking sixth and the latter 10th.

Leading Foreign Investment Magnets in Asia (2007-2009): UNCTAD World ranking Nation 1 China 2 India 6 Vietnam 12 Thailand 14 Malaysia 15 Indonesia 16 Singapore 19 Japan 21 South Korea 28 The Philippines 33 Taiwan Source: UNCTAD     CNwsHstry-