■ New GDP target set
Taiwan's highest economic planning agency said yesterday it has set its target next year for gross domestic product (GDP) at 5 percent, in part to be boosted by 10 new construction projects.
The revised target compares with 4.72 percent target set in October and 3.15 percent in the previous year, according to the cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD).
"We feel the need to mark up the target growth as international economies showed signs of steady growth, coupled with the increase in domestic investment and the 10 new mega investment projects," a CEPD official said.
The CEPD also targets unemployment of 4.50 percent and a 0.70 percent year-on-year increase for the consumer price index next year.
But CEPD warned that a reduction by another 0.80 percentage point may be inevitable if government plans for the NT$500 million-worth projects fail to proceed as scheduled in the next five years.
■ TSMC approves plant project
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said its board approved US$1.4 billion of spending for expansion of its most advanced production capacity.
The money will be used to make chips with 90-nanometer circuits, the smallest in the world, the company said in a statement. TSMC hasn't set a schedule to spend the money, spokesman Tzeng Jinnhaw (曾晉皓) said.
The company also plans to invest in production of silicon wafers measuring 300mm in diameter, which produce more than double the number of chips that can be made from standard, 200mm discs and cut production costs by about a third.
The company expects to spend US$1.2 billion on new plants and equipment this year, compared with US$1.65 billion last year.
■ Currency reserves on the up
Taiwan's foreign-currency reserves, the third-highest in the world after only China and Japan, may rise to more than US$200 billion by May 19 when President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) term ends, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said in a speech.
The reserves rose to a record US$196.6 billion in October because of foreign capital inflows, receipts from the state's overseas share sales, and investment income from the reserves, the nation's central bank said last month. The reserves rose 3.1 percent from September.
Taiwan's reserves have risen from US$106.7 billion at the end of 2000. An increase in reserves suggests the central bank is buying US dollars, which will stem an appreciation in the NT dollar and boost the nation's export competitiveness.
■ Chinatrust eyes share buyback
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) plans to buy back as much as NT$36.4 billion (US$1.1 billion) of its shares in the next two months, starting today.
Chinatrust expects to buy as many as 100 million shares, or 1.8 percent of its outstanding shares, at between NT$25 and NT$40, it said in a stock exchange filing.
The company on Monday cut its full-year forecast for profit before tax to NT$9 billion, from the NT$19 billion it estimated in February. It said the reduction was due to a NT$10.1 billion write-off for goodwill and bad debt acquired when it bought rival Grand Commercial Bank (萬通銀行) in July. The write-off will lower the bank's bad loan ratio to 2.4 percent from 3.9 percent, the bank said.
■ NT dollar continues gains
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued to gain ground against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.019 to close at NT$34.148 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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