TAIPEI: The government will continue its efforts to further develop Taiwan's economy, despite its improvement in terms of economic freedom in a recent global survey, Executive Yuan spokesman Su Jun-pin said yesterday.

"The government is happy about Taiwan's progress in its economic freedom ranking in an international survey, but will not rest on its laurels," Su told reporters after the US Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal jointly released the "2010 Index of Economic Freedom" report earlier yesterday in Hong Kong.

"The results of the government's efforts to reinvigorate Taiwan's economy and upgrade its industrial structure will gradually become apparent in the future," Su explained.

The report ranked Taiwan as the 27th freest economy in the world in 2010, which was an improvement from the 35th spot last year.

The index measures economic freedom within 10 specific categories, including business freedom, labor freedom and government spending.

Taiwan made marked improvement in government spending, and business and monetary freedom, but achieved no progress in the areas of freedom from corruption and labor freedom, according to the report.

The average economic freedom score for Taiwan was 70.4, 0.9 points higher than in 2009 - mainly because of a notable improvement in business freedom.

The report also stated that with its heavy emphasis on services, manufacturing and high technology, Taiwan's modern and developed economy is one of the largest in Asia.

According to the report, Hong Kong remains the world's freest economy, followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/21/2010 page2)