President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) praised small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for their longstanding efforts in helping boost the country’s economy by investing in Taiwan over the past few years.
Ma lauded them during a ceremony held in Taipei on Monday to honor 18 Taiwanese SME entrepreneurs in recognition of their significant contribution to the country.
The president also commended the entrepreneurs for helping stabilize the country’s economy, as Taiwan’s 1.24 million SMEs account for 98 percent of all enterprises and 77 percent of the total job openings in the country.
Ma said that to improve Taiwan’s economic environment, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government has earmarked NT$50 billion (US$1.53 billion) since it was inaugurated May 20 this year to expand domestic demand.
Expressing confidence in the country’s economy, the president said that the government also intends to earmark more than NT$100 billion next year for public works, Ma said.
The president reaffirmed that the government has worked out a plan to inject funds into the local stock market, whose benchmark index has plunged more than 4,100 points as of Monday since the government took office.
Ma acknowledged that the global financial crisis that has battered the local bourse has also negatively impacted on the economy as a whole.
He said, however, that Taiwan’s financial sector is still functioning normally, and that the government will do its utmost to map out measures to prevent the sectors from incurring losses as a result of the crisis.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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