Amid the global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience Taiwan has demonstrated was recognized in the special edition of the Global Competitiveness Report for 2020, published by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday.

Taiwan won praise for displaying three out of five features of competitiveness that were believed to be important for countries to be resilient to this special health crisis and its immediate aftermath, said Wu Ming-huei (吳明蕙) of Taiwan’s National Development Council (NDC).

With safety nets and financial soundness, complete health care systems, and experience in controlling epidemic outbreaks, Taiwan demonstrated stronger economic resilience than most other countries during the global crisis, she said while speaking of the latest WEF report.

The report said that the 2020 pandemic has been a shock for all countries, and no economy has been untouched by losses both in terms of human lives and livelihoods. However, through the WEF’s executive opinion survey, some common features were found that helped countries better manage the impact of the pandemic on their economy and their people, it said.

They include economic digitalization and digital skills, safety nets and financial soundness, governance and planning, as well as health system and research capacity.

Further, anecdotal evidence shows that economies that experienced previous coronavirus epidemics (e.g. SARS) had better protocols and technological systems in place, could contain the epidemic relatively better than others, and navigated the crisis relatively well, the report said, naming South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan as the economies which displayed this feature.

Wu said that Taiwan has been in the lead in terms of pandemic control, recovery and transformation. Taiwan offered the best assistance to COVID-19-affected enterprises and individuals, she said, noting that the country has also devoted itself to promoting transformation.

With the efforts, Wu said Taiwan has the chance to advance in the WEF’s global competitiveness rankings next year. Taiwan was placed as the 12th most competitive economy in the world out of 141 worldwide in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2019.

The 2020 special edition of the Global Competitiveness was issued with the title: “How Countries are Performing on the Road to Recovery.” It was the first edition since 1996 that did not lay out the Global Competitiveness Index rankings.

“The 2020 special edition is dedicated to elaborating on the priorities for recovery and revival, and considering the building blocks of a transformation towards new economic systems that combine ‘productivity,’‘people’ and ‘planet’ targets,” the report said.