Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) has earned the fourth “A” grade of his career, in an annual report issued by the New York-based Global Finance magazine.
In the Central Banker Report Cards 2023 released by Global Finance overnight, Yang was listed among eight central bankers in the world who received an “A” grade, the magazine said in a statement.
Yang said yesterday that his grade was the result of the efforts made by the government and the people, as well as his colleagues at the central bank.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
This year’s Central Banker Report Cards, published annually by Global Finance since 1994, graded the central bank governors of 101 key countries, territories and districts in the world, including the EU, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Bank of Central African States and the Central Bank of West African States.
Grades are awarded on a scale from “A” to “F” for success in inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management, with an “A” representing an excellent performance and an “F” signifying outright failure, according to Global Finance.
Yang, who has been working at Taiwan’s central bank since 1989 and became its governor in 2018, received an “A” grade in the annual central banker report in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and an “A-” in 2021.
His predecessor Perng Fai-nan (彭懷南) has the distinction of being the only central banker in the world to have earned the top grade 14 times, gaining straight A’s from 2005-2017.
On the Global Finance 2023 report card, the other central bankers who earned a grade “A” were Brazil’s Roberto Campos Neto, Israel’s Amir Yaron, Mauritius’ Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, New Zealand’s Adrian Orr, Paraguay’s Jose Cantero Sienra, Peru’s Julio Velarde and Uruguay’s Diego Laba, according to the 2023 report.
At the top of the class, three central bankers — India’s Shaktikanta Das, Switzerland’s Thomas J. Jordan and Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hong — received an “A+” grade this year, the report showed.
According to Global Finance, 10 central bankers earned an “A-” grade. They are Colombia’s Leonardo Villar, Dominican Republic’s Hector Valdez Albizu, Iceland’s Asgeir Jonsson, Indonesia’s Perry Warjiyo, Mexico’s Victoria Rodriguez Ceja, Morocco’s Abdellatif Jouahri, Norway’s Ida Wolden Bache, South Africa’s Lesetja Kganyago, South Korea’s Rhee Chang-yong and Sri Lanka’s Nandalal Weerasinghe.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RSS