Nearly 30 transnational corporations richer than many nations, UN study finds

Twenty-nine of the world's 100 largest economic entities are transnational corporations, according to a new list produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranking both States and corporations.

Exxon Mobil, with a "value added" worth of $63 billion, is bigger in economic size than Pakistan, while General Motors, worth $56 billion, outpaces both Peru and New Zealand, according to the list.

UNCTAD also reports that Ford Motor and DaimlerChrysler, with value added of over $42 billion, are both larger than Nigeria, which is worth just $41 billion. Kuwait, at $38 billion, is outranked by General Electric. And Honda, Nissan and Toshiba all have more value than Syria.

The rising importance of transnational corporations in the global economy is revealed in other statistics compiled by UNCTAD. The agency reports that the 100 largest companies accounted for 3.5 per cent of global gross domestic product in 1990 - a figure which jumped to 4.3 per cent in 2000. There were 24 corporations in the 1990 combined top 100 list of companies and countries, compared with 29 in 2000.