■ TIER upbeat about economy
The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said yesterday that it remained upbeat about the nation's economic prospects for the first half of the year.
TIER president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) told a press conference that the nation's economic growth will be largely driven by exports, which will spur domestic manufacturing and private investment. The business climate index last month rose to 117.48 points from 117.08 points the previous month.
However, only 41.1 percent of companies said they were optimistic about business conditions last month, down from 52.1 percent the previous month, while 24.4 percent of companies said conditions were getting worse, up from 12.6 percent in the previous month, according to the TIER's survey.
The pessimism may be the result of soaring prices for raw materials such as oil and gravel, which has caused production costs to rise, Wu said.
■ Asahi Glass to expand
Asahi Glass Co is expected to spend ?26 billion (US$240 million) to build a plant in Taiwan to supply materials to local flat-panel-display makers, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday, citing the Japanese company's president, Shinya Ishizu.
Asahi will build the furnace, the company's largest, in central Taiwan and may start production by the second quarter next year, the report said.
Asahi is considering establishing plants by renting the entire Yunlin base of the Central Taiwan Science Park, a total of 97 hectares, Wang Hong-yan (王宏元), a section chief at the park's provisional office, told the Taipei Times earlier this month.
The company began its Taiw-anese operations in 2000 by setting up the wholly-owned Asahi Glass Fine Techno Taiwan Co (旭硝子發殷科技) in Yunlin Industrial Park, with a total investment of US$260 million.
The expanded investment may enable Asahi to unseat Corning Inc as the world's largest supplier to the industry. The New York-based company plans to invest US$600 million at its factories in Japan and Taiwan over the next two years, with about 40 percent, or about US$240 million, of the spending taking place this year, Corning said in a statement earlier this month.
■ Currency cooperation likely
With Hong Kong banks formally opening Chinese currency exchange services, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will eventually forge a currency clearing and settlement mechanism, central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) told lawmakers yesterday.
Perng said that the Ministry of Finance has allowed passengers to bring a limited amount of Chinese yuan into the country.
Perng said the decision on whether domestic banks will be allowed to open Chinese currency exchange services would depend on technical issues that have yet to be addressed. The most important prerequisite is the establishment of a cross-strait currency clearing and settlement mechanism, he said.
Perng said the central bank had tried several channels to explore the feasibility of forging such a mechanism with China, including discussing the issue with high-level Chinese officials during their visits to Taiwan.
"All those contacts have so far not yielded concrete results," Perng said, adding that the central bank has asked the Mainland Affairs Council to negotiate the issue with Beijing.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned strong against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.049 to close at NT$33.252 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$832 million.
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