The incoming administration is moving to establish a new quasi-sovereign wealth fund with local and overseas cash to finance emerging industries, a top adviser to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
According to a plan she is considering, the government would be the largest shareholder in the fund, with ownership at less than 50 percent, while the rest would be comprised of local and foreign investors, said Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), Tsai’s top adviser on industry policy.
The fund would help nurture the development of key industries such as biotechnology and smart machinery, Kung said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“There is a lot of money in Taiwan, but people are just collecting fixed-interest payments,” said Kung, who is also vice president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院).
“An innovative financing mechanism can make full use of the local excess savings,” he said.
Tsai, who is to take office on May 20 after winning in a landslide in January’s election, campaigned on fostering new industries as economic growth slumps from a global trade slowdown.
The nation is facing increasing pressure to find new engines for growth as Chinese firms become more competitive and demand weakens in the electronics sector, its key export.
The new leadership hopes to keep central government deficit at less than 3 percent of GDP, so it needs to find more innovative ways to fund new industries beyond selling debt, Kung said.
The proposed fund’s investments would focus on five areas highlighted by Tsai’s campaign: “green” energy, biotechnology, national defense, Internet of Things and smart machinery.
While the fund might also acquire fledgling businesses, unlike Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings Pte, it would not buy large companies.
Kung declined to comment on the size of the fund.
The new company might hire foreign managers, Kung added.
The Cabinet-level National Development Council said in July last year that it would consider forming a sovereign wealth fund, but added that it does not have to include foreign-exchange reserves.
Council Deputy Minister Huan Lin (林桓) this week said exploratory research conducted by the current administration would be passed to Tsai’s government if need be.
The nation’s economy grew 0.75 percent last year, the least since 2009, as exports shrank over the past 12 months.
Local technology firms have declined as demand for PC hardware fell, while those in other nations moved into Internet services.
The five worst performers in Morgan Stanley’s 106-member Asia-Pacific Infotech Index last year came from Taiwan.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS