Taiwan and Hong Kong are among the 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region where consumer confidence has fallen sharply amid the global economic slowdown, a MasterCard Worldwide report released on Wednesday showed.
Despite the drop, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong (王月魂), a Singapore-based adviser to MasterCard Asia-Pacific, said the recent cross-strait deals signed by Taiwan and China were expected to help bolster consumer confidence in Taiwan.
In its latest report, MasterCard Worldwide found that consumer confidence in the Asia-Pacific region fell 7 points compared with six months ago, with 70 percent of the respondents saying they planned to cut back on discretionary spending in the next 12 months.
Consumer confidence in Taiwan was the lowest among the 14 markets, with 90.8 percent of consumers saying they planned to reduce discretionary spending in the next 12 months.
The report showed that Taiwan and Hong Kong were the hardest hit by the recent global economic turmoil, with Taiwan’s index falling to 32.1 points from 71.3 points six months ago and Hong Kong’s index falling from 83.1 points to 41.8 points.
Wang attributed the plunge in Taiwan’s consumer confidence to the “awakening” of local consumers after switching their focus from the presidential election campaign in the first half to the worsening economic conditions.
However, Wang expressed confidence that Taiwan’s consumer confidence would improve following the resumption of cross-strait talks, which he expected would help stimulate the nation’s economic growth.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS