A British vote to leave the EU could cost the nation’s economy ￡100 billion (US$143.85 billion) and 950,000 jobs by 2020, according to research commissioned by employers’ group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The CBI said “Brexit” would deliver a serious shock to the British economy, regardless of any trade deals the country could negotiate with its former European partners.
“This analysis shows very clearly why leaving the European Union would be a real blow for living standards, jobs and growth,” CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn said in a statement yesterday.
“The savings from reduced EU budget contributions and regulation are greatly outweighed by the negative impact on trade and investment. Even in the best case this would cause a serious shock to the UK economy,” she added.
The CBI, which has said it plans to promote the economic case for Britain to remain in the EU, has been criticized by anti-EU campaigners who said the business community is split on the issue.
Two hecklers interrupted a speech by British Prime Minister David Cameron at a CBI conference in November last year, when they unfurled a banner reading “CBI — Voice of Brussels.”
In its defense, the CBI last week published research showing that 80 percent of its members wanted to stay in the EU, while just 5 percent thought leaving the bloc would help them.
Britons are to vote on whether to stay in the EU in a referendum on June 23, and are more equally divided than the business community, opinion polls show, with about 40 percent on either side and about 20 percent undecided.
The director-general of another employers group, the British Chamber of Commerce, resigned this month after he went public with his anti-EU views, breaching the neutral position adopted by his organization.
The CBI, which mainly represents larger British businesses, commissioned accountants PwC to examine two different exit scenarios based on the likelihood of reaching new trade deals.
Under both, it said British living standards, economic growth and employment would be significantly reduced compared with staying.
Economic output could be curtailed by as much as about 5 percent of GDP by 2020, or ￡100 billion, it said, while even in a scenario where a free-trade agreement with the EU was rapidly secured, GDP might still be reduced by 3 percent.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS