It is a pity that both the ruling and opposition parties have treated the economy and finance concerns as "non-issues" in their campaigning for the legislative elections this year, analysts said yesterday.
Cross-strait business issues, for instance, are absent in the platforms of both political camps, which is a shame, said Chen Lee-in (
"Economic issues, especially issues concerning China, are crucial to the nation now as Taiwan's industries have become increasingly dependent on China these years," Chen said. "But this aspect has obviously been neglected by every political party."
While investors generally favor a win by the pro-independence coalition headed by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to carry through the financial reform scheme, they have also expressed concern that further tension with China may slow the nation's economic growth.
Standard & Poor's last week revised its sovereign outlook on Taiwan to negative from stable on concerns over the nation's weakening fiscal flexibility and the prospect of rising cross-strait tension.
Despite the growing Tai-wanese investment staked in the Chinese market, S&P said that the opposition parties' adoption of similar "localization" rhetoric during the campaign shows that "the Taiwanese population as a whole is gradually shifting away from reunification with the mainland, which does not augur well for cross-strait relations."
Another international ratings agency, Fitch Ratings, in October maintained a stable outlook on Taiwan, but warned that a hostile cross-strait relationship with China remains a primary obstacle for Taiwan's creditworthiness.
Whoever wins the elections, some of the economic and finance issues which both parties have been ignoring are certain to be carefully watched after the poll results come out at around 8pm tonight, analysts said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), for instance, said it will move swiftly to push through the passage of an amendment to replenish the depleting Financial Restructuring Fund (
The fund, which plays a crucial role in cleaning up the banking sector, has dwindled to around NT$40 billion (US$1.23 billion) from an initial NT$140 billion when it was set up in 2001.
"The passage will push the government's efforts to reform Taiwan's banking sector a big step further," said Rocky Chou (邱正裕), an analyst with Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧).
The nation's bad-loan ratio, including loans under surveillance, fell slightly to 4.51 percent in October from 4.52 percent in September, according to government figures.
The passage of the strengthened rescue fund is expected to help lower the ratio to an average of 2.5 percent.
The DPP also proposed to promote its economic stimulus packages through a NT$500 billion budget for public infrastructure projects over the next five years, claiming that such spending will help the country achieve an economic growth rate of 5 percent next year.
The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics forecast an economic growth rate of 4.56 percent next year, down from a projected 5.93 percent for this year.
Other DPP-backed measures include keeping the reduced Land Value Increment Tax (
In contrast, the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) major appeal is to halve the controversial NT$610.8 billion military procurement budget and make use of the money for public welfare, including a NT$4,000 subsidy to senior citizens aged above 65 per month, NT$5,000 to farmers over 65 years old per month, and NT$1,000 to disabled citizens per month.
The KMT has criticized the government's huge proposed spending, saying it could widen the national deficit and increase public debt.
Public debt accounted for 36.3 percent of the nation's GDP at the end of last year, People First Party Legislator Christine Liu (
With policymakers attaching no urgency to fiscal consolidation, Fitch Ratings said in October that it estimated that public debt could rise to 40 percent of GDP next year, although government debt servicing continued.
The KMT also promised to offer zero-interest tuition loans to high-school and college students, a 3-percent salary hike to public officials and various subsidies to elementary school pupils.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”