Taiwan’s fixed asset investments for the first quarter of this year fell as the economy at home and abroad showed signs of slowing down, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.
The statistics compiled by the ministry indicated that fixed asset investments for the January-March period fell by 29.1 percent from a quarter earlier and dropped 11.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$199.1 billion (US$6.41 billion).
It was the first time that Taiwan’s fixed asset investments fell below the NT$200 billion mark in more than four years, the data showed.
Fixed asset investments refer to investments such as machinery, land, buildings, installations, vehicles and technology upgrades. When an economy is booming, investors tend to pour more funds into such investments for capacity expansion so that they can gain a higher market share.
Late last month, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics cut its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 3.28 percent from the previous estimate of 3.78 percent.
The ministry said fixed asset investments for the first quarter were lower than the ministry had expected, adding that it was possible that some firms put their investments on hold temporarily and that the figure could pick up later in the year should their investments resume.
In terms of sectors in the first quarter, fixed asset investments made by the electronics sector totaled NT$127.5 billion, down 22.8 percent from a quarter earlier and down 11.5 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said. It said that wafer foundry operators served as the major source of the sector’s fixed asset investments.
The chemical sector posted NT$13.3 billion in fixed asset investments for the first quarter, down 38.6 percent from a quarter earlier and down 45.3 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said. The figure was the lowest in almost three years.
Meanwhile, first-quarter fixed asset investments from the base metal sector fell by 56.6 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$4.4 billion. However, the figure was up 12.5 percent from a year earlier.
In the first quarter of this year, Taiwan’s manufacturing sector posted NT$6.38 trillion in sales, down 14.1 percent from a quarter earlier, but up 1.3 percent from a year earlier.
In the manufacturing sector, electronics, computer and optoelectronics firms served as the major sources of sales, registering NT$2.19 trillion in revenue for the first quarter, down 21.2 percent from a year earlier, but up 12 percent year-on-year.
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