Taiwan has moved up one notch to become the 12th-most competitive economy in the Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 released yesterday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Premier Jiang Yi-huah said at today's Cabinet meeting.
"Even though the global economy continues to struggle, Taiwan has put out consistent performances in the past five years. These rankings represent the WEF's affirmation for the hard work and collaboration of our private sector and the government," the premier said.
In this year's report, which covered 148 economies, Taiwan displayed improvements in the categories of innovation, health and primary education, infrastructure and goods market efficiency. "I hope everyone will continue to aim for excellence in these endeavors," Jiang said.
Meanwhile, the premier directed government agencies to examine other areas where Taiwan showed poor or declining performance, including budget deficit, government debt, even smaller issues such as tuberculosis prevalence. The Council for Economic Planning and Development and its global ranking improvement task force will work with the agencies concerned to determine where the problems lie and map out response and improvement strategies.