Foreign direct investment in Taiwan fell sharply in the first five months of the year in terms of the number of projects and the value of investment, the Investment Commission said in a report yesterday.
From January to last month, the commission approved 1,080 foreign direct investment projects, a decline of 24.74 percent year-on-year, while the total value of those projects reached US$1.99 billion, a 41.92 percent plunge from a year earlier, the commission said.
“The continued uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting major international investments,” the report said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Last year also had a number of “jumbo” investments, which lifted the year’s comparison base, it said.
They included investments by Denmark-based Orsted Wind Power TW Holding A/S, which injected US$800 million into Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farm SE (大彰化東南離岸風力發電) and Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farm SW (大彰化西南離岸風力發電); Diodes Taiwan SARL’s investment of NT$400 million (US$14.31 million) in its local unit, Diodes Technologies Taiwan Co (台灣達爾科技); and Japan-based Kioxia Corp’s NT$270 million investment in its local unit, Kioxia Taiwan Corp (台灣鎧俠), the report said.
Only 15 investments from China have been approved so far this year, a 68.09 percent decline from the same period a year earlier, with the total investment value dropping 61.66 percent to US$18.18 million, the report said.
Investments from January to last month from countries that are part of the government’s New Southbound Policy increased 66.01 percent annually to US$286 million, but the number of approved projects from those countries fell 8.68 percent to 221, the commission said.
“Of the New Southbound Policy investments, the larger investments came from Thailand, Singapore and Australia,” it said.
Outbound investments also decreased. There were 166 projects approved for countries other than China during the five-month period, a decline of 24.55 percent from a year earlier, while the total investment value was US$1.72 billion, a drop of 47.66 percent year-on-year.
Outbound Chinese investment projects numbered 177, down 17.29 percent, with the investment value decreasing 59.29 percent to US$1.09 billion over the period, the report showed.
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