Taiwan in top three for profit opportunity: BERI

Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) has ranked Switzerland, followed by Singapore and then Taiwan top for the "Profit Opportunity Recommendation" metric out of 50 countries and territories in its third "Report on the Evaluation of Environmental Risks of Investment" for 2013, issued in December 2013.
Taiwan ranks second in the world after Singapore for operations risk. BERI noted that although the island's economic growth momentum is being held back by weak private consumer demand, warming exports are expected to stimulate economic recovery in 2014. 

The organisation predicted that Taiwan's financial sector will maintain growth momentum in 2014 and 2015, with most banks enjoying a healthy structure and stable profits. The island's operating risk, BERI predicted, will continue to rank second through to 2018. 

The report gave Taiwan a continued recommendation to invest. BERI pointed out that the island is continuing to strengthen its external economic and trade relations, especially through the promotion of free trade agreements, and relations with mainland China are expected to remain friendly over the next five years. 

For political risk, Taiwan is tenth-lowest in the world and second-lowest in Asia, behind only Singapore. In the "Remittance and Repatriation Factor" index on the other hand, Taiwan ranks top in the world. 

In its report, BERI pointed out that Taiwan has a healthy trade and current account surplus; its trade surplus totaled US$28.24 billion in the first 10 months of 2013 and its current account surplus for the whole year was projected to reach US$55.78 billion, exceeding the US$48.88 recorded in 2012. In addition, the island's rosy economic prospects will continue to attract foreign investment over the coming two years, and BERI expects the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) to continue climbing in the future. 

A special mention was made of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs' efforts to promote Asia-Pacific regional headquarters status in Taiwan to foreign enterprises, and that increasing numbers of them are committing to such investments.