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Computex sets records
Visitors have flocked to Compu-tex 2003 at the Taipei World Trade Center this week, organizers said yesterday.

A spokesman for the China External Trade Development Coun-cil said a total of 9,568 foreign buyers visited the fair during the first day, up by 3.4 percent from a year ago.

The second day attracted 13,257 buyers and 19,222 buyers poured into the exhibition on the third day, up by 21.9 percent and 31.6 percent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis, the official reported.

A total of 42,047 buyers attended the fair over the past three days, a 21-percent growth over the year-earlier number and far exceeding the expected target of 25,000 set previously, the official said.

The council expects visitor records to be broken today, the final day of the trade show and the only day the exhibition is open to the general public.

Chinatrust unit raises forecast
The Philippine unit of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託), Tai-wan's largest privately owned lender, raised this year's profit forecast by one-tenth because it expects bigger gains from trading government debt, the bank's president said.

Net income may rise to as much as 452.1 million pesos (US$8.2 million) from an earlier estimate of 411 million pesos, the same amount it earned last year, Chinatrust (Phils) Commercial Bank Corp's president Joey Bermudez said at a press conference.

M2 grows 4.3 percent
The nation's money supply grew last month at its fastest pace in more than a year as exports surged, the central bank said.

M2, the broadest measure of the money supply, grew 4.3 percent from a year earlier after expanding 3.3 percent in July, the bank said in a statement.

That's the biggest gain since May last year.

The country's M1B money supply, which excludes time deposits and foreign-currency deposits included in M2 money supply, rose 14 percent last month after increasing 11 percent in July.

M1A, which tracks net currency in circulation plus checking accounts and passbook deposits, grew 10.3 percent after expanding 8.4 percent in July, yesterday's report showed.

MOFA hopeful on air links
The long-stalled opening of air links between Taiwan and Russia will soon be resolved if both sides can reach a consensus on taxes, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

The official from the ministry's Department of West Asian Affairs said that tax issues remain the major hurdle and the government hopes both sides will waive taxation on all necessary expenses incurred when air carriers from the two nations fly their routes under the aviation agreement.

Exchange settlement limit lifted
The central bank scrapped a cap on the foreign exchange settlement amount by companies and individuals in a bid to curb gains in the New Taiwan dollar, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing an unidentified official.

The central bank lifted the annual limits of US$5 million on individuals and US$50 million on companies, the newspaper said.

The central bank has permitted insurers to send money overseas for investments.

The amounts remitted by these companies amount to more than US$50 million each, the paper said, citing unidentified people.

NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar remained weak against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.035 to close at NT$33.795 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.

Turnover was US$673 million.

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