TAXES
Revenue drops 22.4 percent
The nation’s tax revenue last month fell NT$39.1 billion (US$1.3 billion), or 22.4 percent, to NT$135.9 billion from the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. In the first 10 months of this year, the government collected NT$1.9193 trillion in tax revenue, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said. The 10-month figure was 5 percent greater than the ministry’s target. The ministry attributed the result to a NT$12.8 billion increase in the securities transaction tax revenue compared with a year ago, a gain of NT$11.4 billion in gift tax revenue, a rise of NT$10.3 billion in land value incremental tax revenue and an additional NT$6.5 billion in sales tax revenue. However, personal income tax revenue fell NT$7.1 billion and inheritance tax revenue dropped NT$6.2 billion, while commodity tax revenue declined NT$2 billion from the same period last year, it said.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Reserves up US$566 million
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$447.787 billion last month, an increase of US$566 million from September, the central bank said in statement on Monday. The central bank attributed the moderate increase to a successful management strategy, even though a weaker euro and other reserve currencies versus the US dollar subdued the gains slightly. The reserves are sufficient to meet demand, given that securities investment and deposits held by foreign portfolio investors last month totaled US$401.2 billion, accounting for 90 percent of foreign exchange reserves.
SMARTPHONES
HTC quarterly losses grow
Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday reported its 10th consecutive quarter in the red, with losses expanding from the previous two quarters. Net losses last quarter totaled NT$3.1 billion, or losses per share of NT$3.8, HTC said in a statement. That compared with losses of NT$1.95 billion in the second quarter and NT$1.8 billion in the first quarter. On an operating basis, losses last quarter totaled NT$3.3 billion, with an operating margin of minus-20.9 percent, the company said.
TECHNOLOGY
Advantech to launch center
Advantech Co (研華), the world’s biggest industrial computer maker, is in the process of enlarging its service center in the Dutch tech hub of Eindhoven, due to continuous growth in the European market. The new facility, Advantech European Service Center, is scheduled to open in January, the company said in statement yesterday. The center is also to become the company’s headquarters in Europe, it added. Advantech said it is targeting annual sales of 350 million euros (US$407.23 million) in 2025 from its European operations, which currently account for nearly 15 percent of its global business.
TECHNOLOGY
Tablet shipments increase
Global tablet shipments last quarter reached a stronger-than-expected 42.29 million units and the figure for this quarter is forecast to grow 7.8 percent quarterly to 45.58 million units, due mainly to brisk demand for entry-level devices, Taipei-based market research group Digitimes Research said yesterday. Digitimes said in a news release that annual tablet shipments for this year would still be less than last year’s, but the decline is expected to narrow significantly in light of the robust performance in the second half of the year. Digitimes predicted a stable shipment performance for next year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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