State-owned Export-Import Bank (EXIM, 中國輸出入銀行) said yesterday it helped broker NT$2.102 billion (US$62.1 million) in export credit loans in the first quarter, up 144.57 percent from a year ago, helping exporters weather the economic slump.
EXIM chairman Lee Sheng-yen (李勝彥) said the bank processed 167 financing cases in the first three months after the Cabinet announced its project to help boost exports. Outbound shipments have contracted amid the world recession, which started in the second half of last year.
The Cabinet approved an NT$8.53 billion (US$258.7 million) measure called the New Zheng He Plan (新鄭和計畫) in December to assist Taiwanese suppliers and manufacturers producing goods for export, with the aim of attracting NT$540 billion in export orders a year.
While the government project aims to direct Taiwanese exports and manufacturers to emerging markets beyond China, exporters have complained about drying orders following the global financial crisis.
Lee said EXIM managed to increase its business partners from 33 to 41 banks in 18 different nations with credit expanding to US$245 million, a 92 percent growth, from the end of last year. Foreign sales contracted 41.9 percent in December and deteriorated 44.1 percent in January. The decline slowed to 28.6 percent in February.
Lee said EXIM, with a paid-in capital of NT$12 billion, is devoted to facilitating export and import trade by offering export credit insurance, re-lending and other financing facilities.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS