The government last month collected NT$76.8 billion (US$2.71 billion) in tax revenue, down 2.7 percent from February last year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday, attributing the retreat to lower revenue from securities transaction and sales taxes.
Securities transaction tax revenue was NT$11 billion, down 13.9 percent year-on-year, as daily turnover shrank 9 percent to NT$362.9 billion, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and expectations of the US Federal Reserve increasing interest rates drove investors to the sidelines, Chen said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Foreign portfolio managers have cut holdings in local shares, as they are concerned about fuel and grain price increases exacerbating supply chain disruptions and weighing on corporate profits.
However, most Taiwanese tech and non-tech firms posted hefty year-on-year revenue increases for January and last month, and are expecting month-on-month revenue increases for this month, after last month had fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has said that the local bourse is expected to lose trading momentum this year, as global central banks would phase out favorable programs intended to mitigate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most Western countries have chosen to tolerate the virus, it said.
Sales tax revenue was NT$10.7 billion, down 29.4 percent year-on-year, as the government cut the sales tax on oil and diesel imports to ease inflationary pressures, and component shortages weighed on automakers, the ministry said.
Personal income tax revenue jumped 33.3 percent to NT$9.3 billion and corporate income tax revenue rose 89.9 percent to NT$5.3 billion, it said, attributing the trend to year-end bonuses.
Revenue from land value increment tax gained 0.9 percent to NT$7.2 billion, as taxable cases picked up 1.9 percent, it said.
For the first two months, overall tax revenue expanded 5.1 percent to NT$280 billion, ahead of the budget schedule by 11.3 percent, the ministry said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
AI-FUELED DEMAND: The company has been benefiting from the skyrocketing prices for DRAM chips amid the AI frenzy, especially its core product — DDR4 DRAM chips DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported that its revenue for the first quarter surged 582.91 percent to NT$49.09 billion (US$1.54 billion) from NT$7.19 billion a year earlier, as the supply crunch caused chip price spikes. Last quarter’s figure is the highest on record. On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 63.14 percent from NT$30.09 billion, the company said. In January, Nanya Technology expected global DRAM supply scarcity to continue through the first half of 2028, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) forecast prices of standard DRAM chips would rise between 58 percent and 63
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