Despite rising fuel costs and increased power demand, Taiwan’s electricity prices have remained unchanged for the past four years. With the budgets of state-run gas company CPC and electricity provider Taipower stretched thin, is it time to rethink subsidized power? Taiwan has some of the world’s lowest electricity prices. The question is why? With no…
By Courtney Donovan Smith Experts Split On Economic Forecast Uncertainty about inflation and supply chain resilience have led various organizations to reach different projections about the economy’s direction this year. The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) in April raised its forecast of Taiwan’s 2022 GDP growth by 0.29 percentage points to 3.96%. CIER attributed…
Year 2021 Ends with Record Exports Taiwan’s export value for December reached US$40.72 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23.4%, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). December’s robust export performance concluded a year that also saw GDP growth of over 6%. The cumulative export value for 2021 reached US$445.45 billion, representing annual growth of 29.4%….
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Inbound FDI Drops by Over 18% in 2021 The Investment Commission announced on January 20 that it approved 2,711 foreign direct investment (FDI) applications in 2021, a 20.68% decrease from the year before. FDI last year totaled US$7.48…
Ending The Year on A High Note Taiwan has managed to buck its severest coronavirus outbreak, coming out relatively unscathed in 2021. As proof, the island’s exports have continued to soar, reaching another record monthly high of US$40.14 billion in October. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in late November raised…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Inflation Hits Taiwan’s Restaurant Industry Taiwanese restaurant group Wowprime Corp. has announced that, starting from October 25, it will raise prices at its 15 restaurant establishments by around 5%. Wowprime, whose brands in Taiwan include popular spots…
Kaohsiung Elects Chen Chi-mai Chen Chi-mai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected mayor of Kaohsiung on August 15, defeating Jane Lee from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Wu Yi-jheng of the Taiwan People’s Party. The special election follows the recall in June of the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu. After losing to…
Taiwan Feed-in Tariffs Raised Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in late December announced changes in the feed-in tariff (FiT) rate to be offered for various categories of renewable energy in 2020. The rate for solar photovoltaic power generation, which includes the cost of solar panel recycling, will be cut to NT$3.9408-$5.7788 per kilowatt-hour, depending…
The importance of renewable energy development to Taiwan’s economic future was spotlighted at the first annual Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Market Summit held July 9 at the Renaissance Taipei Shilin Hotel. Over 240 participants from around the world gathered to exchange ideas on the future of renewable energy in Taiwan and the greater Asia-Pacific region. The…
In addition to the New Southbound Policy, one of the central initiatives of the Tsai Ing-wen administration has been the “5+2 Innovative Industry” program focusing on cutting edge industrial sectors. The goal of forging links between those two policies was assigned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs as one of the five flagship projects under…
