Moody’s Investors Service yesterday affirmed its “Aa3” foreign and local currency sovereign rating for Taiwan, the fourth-highest investment level in the agency’s grading scale.
The international rating agency also offered a stable country outlook for the rating, suggesting that it did not expect to change the rating in the coming months.
The agency attributed the rating strength to the nation’s track record of macroeconomic stability and its strong institutional framework, as reflected by low and stable inflation and sound governance indicators.
“Taiwan’s very strong external payments position and high domestic savings rate ensure high debt affordability and low refinancing risks, underpinning the government’s fiscal strength,” the agency said in a statement.
Moody’s also forecast that GDP growth would expand from 2.1 percent last year to between 3 and 4 percent this year and next year.
While the GDP growth outlook over the coming five years appears favorable, the economy is constrained by “structural features,” such as its high dependence on trade and cyclical manufacturing industries, Moody’s said.
In addition, the long-term growth outlook hinges on achieving a higher level of investment, while Taiwan’s fiscal deficit and level of general government debt are somewhat above those of comparably rated peers, Moody’s said.
Nonetheless, the strong domestic opposition against closer economic and political relations with China might complicate Taipei’s efforts to participate in regional free-trade agreements and undermine the nation’s export-driven economic model, the agency added.
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],”
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
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