The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said it would reassess its target of NT$1.05 trillion (US$32.8 billion) in inbound investment to Taiwan next year after coming under fire for not trying to attract more investors.
The figure represents less than a 1 percent increase from this year’s targeted inbound investment, and is even lower than pre-financial crisis levels — 2007 saw NT$1.08 trillion in inbound investment.
The ministry said on Tuesday that total investment from local and foreign enterprises was NT$851 billion as of last month. That number represents 81.3 percent of the whole-year target of NT$1.047 trillion.
“Europe and the US, Taiwan’s major investors, have seen their economic growth slow, casting uncertainties onto Taiwan-inbound investment next year,” the ministry said in a statement.
Other factors that may pull back on inbound investment next year are the delayed establishment of a Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化科技) plant and Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (台塑石化) planned fifth-phase expansion of a naphtha cracker in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County.
“The delay of these two major projects will impact the willingness of the companies in the supply chain to invest,” the ministry said.
It said next year’s target would have to take into account whether the ministry would be able to accomplish its target for the whole of this year.
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TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day