An industry advocacy group yesterday urged incoming minister of economics Lee Chih-kung (李世光) to improve Taiwan’s investment environment and ensure the stability of the nation’s electricity supply, with the Democratic Progressive Party administration having pledged to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
“The top priority for the new minister of economics should be to raise investors’ confidence about Taiwan’s investment environment,” Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會) secretary-general Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生) said by telephone.
Taiwan’s investment environment is deteriorating, as the possibility of water, power, and land shortages are weighing on investments, Tsai said, adding that a lack of talented workers is also making investors hesitate.
Tsai said that a stable electricity supply is very important to the development of the nation’s industries, and that the business community is worried that if the new government abandons nuclear power by 2025, electricity supplies will not be sufficient to support the nation’s economic activity.
Ensuring that power supplies remain stable is the key to a better investment environment, he added.
General Chamber of Commerce (全國商業總會) chairman Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰) shared a similar view with Tsai, saying that Lee should draft feasible and detailed plans to boost investments in the nation.
“How to attract more investment to the nation should be at the top of Lee’s list after he takes office, as investments from overseas shrunk more than 15 percent last year from 2014,” Lai said by telephone, citing Investment Commission data.
Foreign investments from all sources plunged 16.87 percent annually to US$4.79 billion last year, with investment from China plummeting 27.06 percent to US$244.06 million, according to Investment Commission data.
The incoming minister of economics should also encourage Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises to invest more domestically, Lai said, adding that increased investment in Taiwan could boost the nation’s employment rate and raise wage levels.
The incoming minister of economics should also carry on the government’s push to ink free-trade agreements so that tariff barriers for Taiwanese manufacturers can be lowered, Lai said.
“I hope that the incoming minister can make progress on the trade in goods pact with China and the cross-strait service trade agreement. The business community also expects the government to help Taiwan join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Lai said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS