The central bank said it is ready to establish a currency swap agreement with China, and although the two sides have not yet started formal consultations, it hopes to sign such a pact soon.
People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) on Tuesday said that he was aware Taiwan would like to discuss the issue.
Yuan-denominated deposits in Taiwan hit a new high of 214.522 billion yuan (US$34.94 billion) in January. Government data are expected to show that Taiwan’s yuan-denominated deposits last month set another record high, increasing the pressure for such a deal.
The central bank is set to release the latest data tomorrow.
Central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) on Thursday last week said he hoped a currency swap deal could be finalized by the end of this year, but added that the issue is not just up to Taiwan.
While financial authorities have not set a cap on the amount of yuan deposits allowed to be held in this country, they have repeatedly advised banks to do their best to conduct risk control.
The reference rate for the yuan yesterday dropped by 0.16 percentage points from Tuesday to 6.1343 against the US dollar, the lowest level this year, according to data released by the Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Trading System.
Standard Chartered chief economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said the recent yuan depreciation is a short-term adjustment because the currency had experienced a long period of appreciation that began in 2005.
In the long run, the yuan’s value will not increase on a large scale, while the short-term fluctuations are not likely to affect the globalization process of the currency, Phoo said.
However, the depreciation has affected yuan buyers in Taiwan, dealers said, adding that the market at present is dominated by a wait-and-see attitude.
The market is uncertain whether the yuan has depreciated to its lowest point, the dealers said, attributing the recent drop to the US dollar’s fluctuations and data on China’s macroeconomic performance.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained