State coffers are benefiting from a rise in tax revenue, but Taiwan’s tax-to-GDP ratio remains among the lowest in the developed world. Revisions to tax policy are bringing increased revenue into Taiwan’s national treasury, giving a boost to public finances as the government grapples with ballooning debt and anemic economic growth. Analysts and the government…
Expeditious reform of the public finance system is necessary to prevent mounting debt from crimping future economic growth. Taiwan’s public finances are increasingly strained by debt, aggravating the island’s fiscal woes as it struggles with flagging exports and weak GDP growth. Last year, the central government’s debt reached NT$5.28 trillion (US$161 billion). At 35.85% of…
Despite flat-rate data packages pinching the margins of telecom operators and creating network congestion, Taiwanese consumers are still signing up for 4G in droves. Dony Wang is underwhelmed by Taiwan’s 4G LTE service. The project manager for a Taipei-based clean-energy company purchased an iPhone 6 for his wife last fall. Since then, his wife has…
Content owners urge the blocking of China-based websites that host a huge variety of unlicensed programming free of charge. Online piracy of television programs remains rampant in Taiwan in the absence of a mechanism to block offending websites, which are largely based in mainland China. A Chinese-language search on Google for “free Taiwanese TV programs”…
In the first big consolidation in the Taiwanese telecom and media sector in five years, Morgan Stanley and Far EasTone are playing leading roles. An investment consortium headed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPE Asia) with participation by Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. (FET) announced plans on July 30 to acquire China Network Systems (CNS),…
Taiwanese OEMs find it increasingly pays to be part of the iconic technology giant’s supply chain. Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturers dominate the supply chain of Apple Inc., the most valuable company in the world. While iPhones and Apple computers are assembled in China with parts sourced from global suppliers, Taiwanese firms own many of the…
The key question is how long can Taiwan’s IC industry hold off its Chinese competitors? Taiwan’s semiconductor sector faces a formidable challenge from China as Beijing moves aggressively to build homegrown chip-making giants. The Chinese government announced a US$20 billion fund last year for that task, and says it will invest a total of US$161…
Now that Taiwan is on the map for more visitors, its hotel sector is enjoying an unprecedented boom. Taiwan’s hotel sector is thriving, buoyed by the island’s transformation into an up-and-coming destination for Asian travelers. Since 2008, when the Taiwanese government eased restrictions on Chinese visitors, foreign tourist numbers have jumped from 3.8 million to…
The sector netted record profits in 2014 on the back of burgeoning offshore business, especially in China. The crowded Taiwan banking sector is finding room to breathe at last. Rapid expansion of offshore business amid deregulation and improving asset quality helped banks post a record NT$332.8 billion (US$10.7 billion) in profits in 2014, according to…
INDUSTRY FOCUS: Financial Sector Smoother Sailing for Taiwan’s Banks offshore The Formosa Bond Market Ignites Promoting the Onshore Mutual Fund Business Taiwan’s Payment Plan Taiwan’s offshore RMB bond market is growing rapidly after investment was opened to domestic insurers. Taiwan’s Formosa bond market is surging on the back of deregulation measures that have made…
