Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 10 months of this year totaled US$5.27 billion, down 28.25 percent year-on-year, the Investment Commission said yesterday.
The number of approved cases also fell 23.12 percent from a year earlier to 2,230, it said.
The commission attributed the decline to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which put a damper on foreign investment in Taiwan.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
PANDEMIC
“COVID-19 continues to affect investment, including business travel and economic activities. This caused FDI to slide both in terms of the number of cases approved and [US] dollar amounts,” the commission said in a release.
Investments from countries covered by the government’s New Southbound Policy bucked the trend, with the US dollar amount increasing 169.57 percent to US$870 million in the first 10 months, the commission said.
The growth was mostly due to a handful of larger investments, including the NT$8.55 billion (US$307.7 million) investment by Cal-Comp Electronics and Communications Co Ltd (泰金寶) from Thailand and the NT$2.99 billion investment by Singapore’s Empyrion Ed Pte Ltd, it said.
Although 441 investment cases from policy countries were approved, the figure was a slight decrease from the previous year, it added.
Investments from China fell to 32 cases, down 61.45 percent year-on-year, and the total investment amount was US$41.3 million, down 66.68 percent, government data showed.
“Investments from China continue to contract due to US-China tensions and cross-strait relations,” the commission said, adding that Taiwan has also tightened the law governing investments from China.
In terms of outbound investments, 337 cases were approved, down 23.41 percent year-on-year. The total investment amount was US$9.4 billion, up 33.84 percent mainly on larger investments such as GlobalWafers Inc’s (環球晶圓) US$2.5 billion investment in Germany’s Siltronics AG.
SUPPLY CHAIN RESHUFFLE
The commission said the increase in outbound investment by Taiwanese firms reflects Taiwanese businesses taking advantage of the reshuffling of supply chains worldwide.
Outbound investments to countries covered by the New Southbound Policy decreased 28.08 percent to 105 cases in the first 10 months, but the US dollar amount increased by 153.54 percent year-on-year, with Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand becoming the main investment destinations.
Outbound investments to China decreased 9.82 percent to 349 cases and the US dollar amount also dropped 8.6 percent to US$4.3 billion.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Micron Technology Inc is a driving force pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would put new export restrictions on equipment its Chinese competitors use to make their chips, according to people familiar with the matter. A US House of Representatives panel yesterday was to vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close gaps in restrictions on chipmaking equipment. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking facilities to align with export curbs on US companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc. The bill targets facilities operated by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc
RSS