Taiwan’s GDP growth this year might surpass last year’s 2.45 percent, despite a slowdown, after taking into consideration a plan to hand out NT$6,000 (US$196.23) to eligible people from last year’s tax surplus and other subsidies, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said yesterday.
Chu was responding to questions from lawmakers during a review of a NT$380 billion special budget to help boost the economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statistics agency last month trimmed its forecast for GDP growth this year to 2.12 percent, from 2.75 percent, with a 1.2 percent contraction this quarter, Chu said, adding that the forecast did not factor in the special budget funded by last year’s tax surpluses.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The upcoming distribution of NT$6,000 for all citizens and permanent residents would raise the GDP reading by at least 0.3 percentage points, while other stimulus programs would lend further support, Chu said.
The Ministry of the Interior is to provide a once-off NT$30,000 mortgage subsidy to low-income households to ease their financial burdens, which have been worsened by inflation and interest rate hikes, the minister said.
Other ministries have also proposed stimulus programs to energize private consumption, the main growth driver this year, as exports and private investment are taking a hit from a global economic slowdown.
Ultimately, this year’s economic growth might be better than last year’s, Chu said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠) asked whether inflation would climb further and erode economic benefits after the government raises electricity prices later this year.
Chu said that the statistics agency has not taken into consideration electricity price adjustments, which a panel at the Ministry of Economic Affairs would be tackling late this month.
Electricity rate hikes would surely affect the consumer price index and the DGBAS would revisit the issue in May after policymakers reach a conclusion, Chu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) asked Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) to shed light on the National Stabilization Fund’s reported exit from the local bourse now that the TAIEX has recovered some ground and the Financial Supervisory Commission has removed bans on short selling.
The TAIEX is hovering around 15,000 points, with a stable daily turnover of more than NT$200 billion, Chuang said, adding that she has confidence in the index’s performance.
The TAIEX yesterday rose 155.09 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 15,763.51. The benchmark index has risen 11.5 percent since the beginning of this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The National Stabilization Fund’s management committee is to hold a quarterly meeting next month, at which committee members would discuss the fund’s next moves, Chuang said.
ASML Holding NV’s new advanced chip machines have a daunting price tag, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), one of the Dutch company’s biggest clients. “The cost is very high,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, referring to ASML’s latest system known as high-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV). “I like the high-NA EUV’s capability, but I don’t like the sticker price,” Zhang said. ASML’s new chip machine can imprint semiconductors with lines that are just 8 nanometers thick — 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation. The machines cost 350 million euros (US$378 million)
Apple Inc has closed in on an agreement with OpenAI to use the start-up’s technology on the iPhone, part of a broader push to bring artificial intelligence (AI) features to its devices, people familiar with the matter said. The two sides have been finalizing terms for a pact to use ChatGPT features in Apple’s iOS 18, the next iPhone operating system, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Apple also has held talks with Alphabet Inc’s Google about licensing its Gemini chatbot. Those discussions have not led to an agreement, but are ongoing. An OpenAI
‘FULL SUPPORT’: Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said he hopes more companies would settle in the prefecture to create an area similar to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park The newly elected governor of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture said he is ready to ensure wide-ranging support to woo Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build its third Japanese chip factory there. Concerns of groundwater shortages when TSMC’s two plants begin operations in the prefecture’s Kikuyo have spurred discussions about the possibility of tapping unused dam water, Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said in an interview on Saturday. While Kimura said talks about a third plant have yet to occur, Bloomberg had reported TSMC is already considering its third Japanese fab — also in Kumamoto — which would make more advanced chips. “We are
EXPLOSION: A driver who was transporting waste material from the site was hit by a blunt object after an uncontrolled pressure release and thrown 6m from the truck Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday there was no damage to its facilities after an incident at its Arizona factory construction site where a waste disposal truck driver was transported to hospital. Firefighters responded to an explosion on Wednesday afternoon at the TSMC plant in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the local fire department. Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was transporting waste material from the project site and stopped to inspect the tank when he was made aware of a potential problem, a police report seen by Bloomberg News showed. Following an “uncontrolled pressure release,” he was hit by a blunt