ECONOMY
M1B grows 5.76%
Last month’s M1B — a measure of the money in circulation in the nation — grew 5.76 percent year-on-year, slower than the previous month’s 5.9 percent, the central bank reported on Friday last week. The M2 — which includes the M1B, time deposits, foreign-currency deposits and mutual funds — also saw annual growth decrease to 3.59 percent from 4.1 percent. The declines were mainly because of net foreign-capital outflows and slower growth in bank loans and investments, the central bank said. For the first seven months, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 5.33 percent and 3.70 percent respectively.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Equipment billings rise
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment last month reported worldwide billings of US$2.36 billion, international trade group SEMI reported on Thursday last week. The three-month average of worldwide billings for last month was 4.9 percent lower than June’s US$2.48 billion, but up 4.1 percent from US$2.27 billion in the same period last year, the group said. SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said global billings declined for the second month in a row, but the overall semiconductor equipment industry is expected to end this year with strong growth, driven by demand for memory products, high-performance computing chips and automotive electronics chips.
TRADE
TAITRA inks Finland deal
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) and its Finnish counterpart on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Taipei to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Businesses exchanges are expected to increase because of the agreement, TAITRA said. The agreement was signed by TAITRA and Business Finland — the major Finnish funding agency for financial research and innovation — at the Fifth Taiwan-Finland Economic and Trade Dialogue.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
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