Tax revenues rise 8.6 percent
Tax revenues in the first 10 months of the year rose 8.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.48 trillion (US$45.8 billion), meeting nearly 92 percent of the central government's goal this year, statistics released by the Ministry of Finance yesterday showed.
The ministry collected a total of NT$128.1 billion last month, up 11.9 percent from September, the latest statistics showed.
Income taxes totaled NT$77.7 billion last month, including NT$11.8 billion from individual income taxes, which saw the biggest growth of 137.6 percent from a year earlier. That was followed by NT$12.6 billion in revenues from securities transaction taxes, which saw a 91.5 percent growth from a year earlier, the data showed.
CPI likely under 2% next year
The consumer price index (CPI) may grow by less than 2 percent next year because global crude oil prices are expected to drop next year, an economic planning official said on Wednesday.
Thomas Yeh (葉明峰), vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), said that global research showed that international crude oil prices next year should slip to between US$73.5 and US$76 per barrel -- lower than this year's prices which had surged to more than US$96 per barrel in recent days.
Although the CPI jumped 5.34 percent last month from a year earlier -- the largest single-month increase in nearly 13 years -- Yeh forecast that this year's overall rate would hover between 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent given that CPI growth in the first 10 months averaged a relatively low 1.35 percent.
Tax pact with Switzerland inked
Taiwan and Switzerland recently inked an agreement to avoid double taxation, trade sources said on Wednesday.
The agreement, which was signed last month, is the result of years of negotiations between both sides, the sources said.
As the agreement still requires ratification by the Swiss parliament and approval by Taiwan's Cabinet, neither side has made an official announcement on the signing of the agreement.
The sources added that the agreement might benefit Switzerland more than Taiwan as Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics showed that between 1952 and last year, Switzerland started 164 investment projects that totaled US$507 million in Taiwan, while Taiwan had only 15 investment projects worth US$18 million in Switzerland over the same period.
Baidu mulling China listings
Baidu.com Inc (百度), China's leading Internet search engine, is considering listing on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets, the company's chief executive said yesterday.
Baidu.com is already listed on the NASDAQ in New York, but chief executive Robin Li (李彥宏) said Hong Kong and Chinese listings could raise its profile among investors in its home country.
Baidu is also considering an acquisition in the consumer-to-consumer market in China, Li said, but added that the company hasn't set a budget for acquisitions.
Yam warns of HK bourse risks
The head of Hong Kong's de facto central bank warned investors yesterday of risks in the city's stock market, which had suffered sharp falls recently amid fears of a share price bubble.
Joseph Yam (任志剛), chief executive of Hong Kong's Monetary Authority, said the territory's bourse had seen the wildest swings in share prices over the past five months since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
"I want to remind market participants that when the market is performing well ... don't forget to be alert," he said at a meeting with legislators.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last