The decline of the nation’s competitiveness ranking in the latest International Institute for Management Development (IMD) report shows the government needs to conduct a review to make improvements, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday.
Jiang told a Cabinet meeting that there was no need to panic over the nation’s competitiveness because of the report, but Cabinet members have to take it as a “warning” and actively address the problems it has highlighted.
The IMD lowered Taiwan’s global competitiveness ranking for this year by four notches to 11th, the nation’s worst performance since 2009, with across-the-board declines in all four subindices — economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
The IMD Competitiveness Index comprises four subindices, which are divided into 20 pillars made up of 323 variables.
Jiang demanded that Cabinet agencies review each variable with humility.
A set of economic stimulus measures that began last year went in the right direction, but the question was whether the government can fully implement the measures, he said.
At a press conference following the Cabinet meeting, Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said that the report showed Taiwan’s global competitiveness ranking has declined, but that it did not mean Taiwan had become less competitive, rather that other countries had made more progress, Kuan said.
“Despite that, Taiwan’s competitiveness is still strong,” he said.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS