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.
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