TAIWAN WORLD'S FOURTH MOST COMPETITIVE ECONOMY: WEF REPORT.

AsiaPulse News, October, 2004

GENEVA, Oct 14 Asia Pulse - Taiwan is the world's fourth most competitive economy, ranking behind Finland, the United States and Sweden, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005 published Wednesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Taiwan moves up a notch this year in terms of the WEF's Growth Competitiveness Index -- the highest ranking of the Asian countries -- and is followed by Singapore at seventh spot, according to the report. The leading three economies maintain their same ranking as last year.

Of the Asian economies surveyed, Japan advances to ninth spot this year in terms of the Growth Competitiveness Index, a jump from 11th place a year ago. Hong Kong ranks at 21st this year, followed by South Korea at 29th and mainland China at...