Lin gives `go south' pressure
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) yesterday urged business leaders to increase their investment in Malaysia in line with the nation's "go south" policy.
Lin, in Malaysia for a two-day visit as part of economic tour of Southeast Asian countries, said the language capabilities of the locals and efficient air links between the two countries were attractive inducements for Taiwanese investors looking for opportunities.
Lin touted Malaysia as an ideal place for Taiwanese investors because that Malaysian workers can speak fluent English and various Chinese dialects such as Hokkien.
Lin said the other plus factor is the direct daily air link between Penang and Taipei for both passengers and cargo.
"Our government is encouraging investment in the Southeast Asian region under the `go south' policy," he said.
Lin, leading a 27-member delegation, is scheduled to leave Malaysia later today for Thailand, and was also visit to Vietnam and Indonesia to enhance economic ties is on the agenda.
Bad loan ratio down
Lenders' bad-loan ratio fell to 10.17 percent in the third quarter from 10.83 percent three months earlier, as banks wrote off some bad debt and sold troubled assets, the central bank said.
About NT$1.43 trillion (US$42 billion) of loans were classed as non-performing loans (NPL) or at risk of turning sour.
Ministry of Finance in October demanded that local banks cut their bad loan ratios to below 7 percent by the end of this year or face punishment. They have also been told to lower NPL ratios to below 5 percent by the end of 2003.
Banks which fail to meet the 7 percent requirement by the end of the year would face restrictions on salary and bonus payments to their boards, while those that did not meet the 5 percent limit next year would be forced to close between 3 and 5 percent of their branches, the ministry said.
Chinese medicine touted
With the support of an advanced electronics manufacturing industry, Taiwan's medical equipment sector may find a good niche in the market, James Chew (邱羅火), president of the Fortune Venture Investment Group (富鑫創投集團), said at a symposium on the market potential of medical treatment equipment at the Taipei World Trade Center yesterday.
Chew said that it is more difficult for Taiwan's medical industry to find a niche in the patent medicine market in terms of research and development, because it takes huge capital investment and long lead times to develop new drugs.
But the local industry can find good niche by applying the knowledge of Chinese medicine in developing genetically engineered health food, Chew said.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar hit its highest level against the US dollar in almost two months yesterday in line with a strengthening of the Japanese yen, dealers said.
The central bank stepped in to the foreign exchange market at one stage to buy the greenback in an attempt to prevent a rapid rise of the local unit, which would hurt Taiwan's competitiveness in the international market, they said.
The unit rose NT$0.090 against the greenback to close at NT$34.415 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$652 million, compared with last Friday's US$446 million.
"The expanded turnover was evidence of the central bank intervention. It seems to me that the central bank wanted to keep the New Taiwan dollar at around NT$34.40 level in the near term," one dealer with a foreign bank said.
Agencies
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