Current-account surplus widens
The nation's current-account surplus widened in the first quarter as exports increased, the central bank reported.
The surplus widened to US$6.37 billion from US$4.41 billion a year earlier. It narrowed from a revised US$9.14 billion in the fourth quarter, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
The surplus on the income account, which includes dividend payments, widened to US$3.8 billion from US$3.42 billion a year earlier. The deficit on the services account, which includes travel spending, narrowed to US$68 million from US$746 million.
The financial account, which measures investment flows, showed a deficit of US$5.42 billion after a US$7.87 billion surplus in the same period of 2004. Direct investment showed a net outflow of US$185 million.
Goldman lifts growth outlook
Goldman Sachs Group Inc raised its forecast for the nation's economic growth this year on better-than-expected exports in the first quarter, the US investment bank said in a research report yesterday.
Goldman Sachs economist Enoch Fung boosted his expansion estimate for this year to 4.2 percent from 4 percent. He raised a growth forecast for next year to 4.5 percent from 4.1 percent.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics on Thursday lifted its forecast for economic growth this year to 4.31 percent from a February projection of 4.25 percent.
Mittal increases Arcelor bid
Mittal Steel Co said yesterday that it had raised its hostile takeover bid for Arcelor SA to 25.8 billion euros (US$32.94 billion) from 18.6 billion euros.
Mittal Steel, which launched a takeover attempt for Arcelor on Thursday, said that the new offer was worth 34.0 percent more per share than the terms of its initial offer as reflected in the share prices of the two companies on Thursday.
Phone firms garner high praise
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) has been named as the "best-managed company" in Taiwan, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by Finance Asia magazine.
Chunghwa Telecom is also one of the companies cited by investors for its compliance with its dividend policy, the survey shows.
The other telecommunications firm on the "best-managed companies" list is Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大). The company was also cited for "best corporate governance" and its compliance with its dividend policy. Far Eastone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) is on the list of Taiwan companies with the "best investor relations."
Export orders likely higher
The nation's export orders -- indicators of export shipments in the next few months -- likely soared last month on healthy global demand for electronics products, economists said yesterday.
Last month's export orders likely surged 20.22 percent from the same month last year to NT$782.53 billion (US$24.5 billion), according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Export orders rose 19.33 percent to a record US$24.94 billion in March.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is scheduled to issue export orders data for last month on Tuesday.
NT dollar continues slide
The New Taiwan dollar continued losing ground against its US counterpart on foreign fund outflows, dealers said.
The local currency declined NT$0.095 to close at NT$31.948 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$859 million.
Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$8.27 billion (US$259 million) of Taiwan's stocks yesterday.
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