Affected by the global financial crisis, Taiwan’s approved inward foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged 46.4 percent in the first 10 months of the year to US$3.74 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.
Last month alone, approved FDI dipped 85.3 percent year-on-year to US$251.69 million, statistics from the Investment Commission showed.
Ministry officials said the decline was expected to ease as there were several large investment projects awaiting approval that could help push up the total FDI to US$6 billion by the end of the year.
However, it would still not be enough to pull Taiwan’s FDI out of a slump for a second consecutive year. Last year, total approved inward FDI reached US$8.24 billion, down 46.4 percent from 2007.
Following the deregulation of the market on June 30 to allow Chinese investment, 15 Chinese investment projects valued at US$5.81 million were approved between July and last month, Investment Commission statistics showed.
Meanwhile, registered outward FDI in the first 10 months of the year declined 33.9 percent to US$2.34 billion.
China-bound investment fell 49.2 percent year-on-year to US$4.24 billion in the first 10 months of the year and dropped 48.6 percent to US$757 million last month alone, the ministry said.
The commission approved 173 China-bound investment projects during the 10-month period, compared with 435 projects approved over the same period last year.
For last month alone, the number of approved projects fell 28.9 percent year-on-year to 32, it said.
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