Business climate gauges for the manufacturing and service sectors both fell last month, reflecting growing pessimism about near-term economic conditions, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The latest survey conducted by the Taipei-based institute showed that the manufacturing sector gauge fell to 97.77 points from 99.48 points in March.
The proportion of manufacturers who felt bullish about the near-term business outlook declined 20.2 percentage points to 29.2 percent last month, from 49.4 percent a month ago, while those who felt neutral or bearish rose to 43.1 percent and 27.7 percent respectively, compared with 37.5 percent and 13.1 percent in the previous survey, the institute said.
Asked about business prospects over the next six months, 42.4 percent of respondents felt bullish, down from 45.1 percent in March. Those who felt bearish stood at 15.1 percent last month, down from 18.6 percent the previous month.
“Weak economic momentum in Europe and China have caused Taiwan’s production to drop and weakened the growth in consumption, making businesses more pessimistic,” TIER president David Hong (洪德生) told a press conference.
Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the institute’s macroeconomic forecasting center, said private consumption did not rise because more affluent people relocated abroad.
“About 1 million Taiwanese young people are working in China, who have the higher incomes and consumption power,” Sun said.
A separate survey showed the domestic service sector gauge dropped 0.95 points to 93.44 points last month, the third consecutive decline.
Within the service sector, companies in the telecom and financial industries are more optimistic about the next six months, with those in the finance industry expecting the upcoming capital gains tax revision to boost local stock market prospects, Sun said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
RSS