Taiwan’s foreign direct investments (FDIs) declined 20.6 percent to US$3.81 billion last year, amid weaker momentum from Europe and the US, the Investment Commission said yesterday.
“The European and US economies did not gain full steam last year because they were still recovering from the financial crisis. These companies were cautious of overseas investments,” commission director Chu Ping (朱萍) said.
However, the commission said approved investment cases had increased, expanding 19.4 percent to 2,042 cases.
FDIs are measured based on foreign companies’ investment activities, such as the incorporation of a subsidiary or joint venture, or through mergers or stake acquisitions of domestic firms. Taiwan’s FDIs exclude investments from China, because Taiwan only started to open selected sectors to Chinese capital in mid-2009. If taking into account financing activities where an established Taiwanese subsidiary of a foreign firm borrows from local banks for domestic expansion — instead of purely new foreign investments to Taiwan — FDIs totaled US$7.99 billion last year, it said.
Of the US$7.99 billion, there were 19 cases where investment was more than US$40 million, with major investors coming from Japan, the US, the UK and the Netherlands.
The commission expected total FDIs including financing activities to be about US$9 billion this year.
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