Taiwan's inward foreign direct investment (FDI) amounted to a record high of US$7.42 billion last year, ranking sixth in South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia, according to the World Investment Report 2007 released on Tuesday.
Taiwan ranked behind only China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Thailand in the region in terms of inward forward direct investment, according to the annual report, which was published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Inward foreign direct investment last year increased 356 percent over 2005's figure of US$1.62 billion and 291 percent over 2004's figure of US$1.89 billion.
Outward foreign direct investment totaled US$7.39 billion last year, ranking the country fifth in the region behind Hong Kong, China, India and Singapore.
The amount marked an increase of 22.74 percent over the figure of US$6.02 billion for 2005 and a 3.56 percent increase from US$7.14 billion in 2004.
Last year the total FDI inflows to South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia amounted to a record high of US$200 billion, marking an increase of 19 percent over 2005.
The report shows that Taiwan ranked 119th in the world in terms of the Inward FDI Performance Index for last year, while the country ranked 20th in terms of its Inward FDI Potential Index for 2005 -- the most recent year for which data is available.
Based on these results, Taiwan was placed in the category of "below potential" countries, those that have high FDI potential but low FDI performance.
The Inward FDI Performance Index ranks countries according to the ratio of a country's share of global FDI inflows to its share of global GDP.
The Inward FDI Potential Index is an average of the values of 12 variables expected to affect an economy's attractiveness to foreign investors.
A senior UNCTAD economist told the Central News Agency that "below potential" countries tend to be less dependent on FDI inflows in pursuing their development goals.
For example, the US saw its Inward FDI Performance Index ranking somewhere around 120th for three consecutive years to last year, although it maintained its top position in terms of its Inward FDI Potential Index for 2004 and 2005, the economist said.
He noted that Taiwan's Outward FDI Performance Index ranked 27th, 27th and 26th, respectively, for the three years between 2004 to last year, which may indicate that Taiwan and its businesses tend to rely on outward FDI to enhance their international competitiveness.
Similarly, France ranked 87th, 78th and 74th respectively, for the same three years, while the country's Outward FDI Performance Index ranked 19th, 16th and 17th over those years, he said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS