Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday said it expects GDP growth next year to slow to 2 percent from 2.1 percent this year, as the expansion phase for the nation’s business cycle nears its conclusion in the absense of clear global growth catalysts.
“The nation’s business cycle is estimated to have entered its expansionary phase in October of 2015 and we are approaching the end of the growth period, which is predicted to last between 24 and 37 months,” said National Central University economics professor Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), who led the research team.
Much like other major markets such as the US, China and Europe, where the pace of growth has started to stabilize following a long expansionary period in their business cycles, Taiwan’s most recent expansion cycle has been tepid, Hsu said.
A slowdown in economic expansion would begin to take shape in the second half of this year, with quarterly growth predicted to fall to 0.58 percent between July and September and 0.46 percent in the last quarter of the year, Hsu said.
Despite the lack of a driver of growth, stable external demand, sound fundamental metrics and industrial indicators, as well as export volumes are still trending favorably and expected to sustain modest GDP growth next year, Hsu said.
Hsu added that the central bank is not likely to raise interest rates this year amid rising geopolitical tensions and with no sign of domestic overheating.
In addition, inflation is expected to reach 0.66 percent, markedly undershooting the government’s one percent target, he said, adding that a relatively benign typhoon season and a strengthening New Taiwan dollar have resulted in low inflation this year.
Meanwhile, economic growth would be dependent on whether the reshuffled Cabinet’s policies could produce a tangible stimulus, Hsu said.
Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) plans to pass a 3 percent pay raise for public-sector workers and his promise to bring flexibility to new labor rules would be helpful in boosting consumption and investment, he said.
“Economics is about emitting signals to draw the desired reactions from consumers and businesses, and positive changes such as to labor legislation should be made sooner rather than later,” said former National Development Council minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), who is on the research team.
Still, that signal is not likely to be strong enough, Kuan said, adding that the wage hike would lead to a minimal increase in base income, as most public sector workers’ compensation includes supplementary items.
“A real shock is needed to jolt the economy back to life, such as bigger and consecutive public sector wage hikes,” Kuan said.
As for the private sector, businesses have already been through many rounds of rule changes that raised their commitments to pensions and health insurance, and they have little desire to raise salaries, Kuan said.
The nation has not seen a significant positive shock since the cross-strait trade talks on the goods and services industries in 2007, Kuan said, adding that Taiwan-China relations are a challenge that the ruling party cannot avoid.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is