Vietnam investment improves
Foreign investment into Vietnam more than tripled to US$31.6 billion this half from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said.
The increase in inflows “has demonstrated foreign investors’ confidence in Vietnam’s economy and investment environment,” a report by the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency said.
The amount is a record, said Hanoi-based Mai Thi Thu, one of three deputy heads of the agency.
Vietnam’s economy expanded 8.5 percent last year, the fastest pace in more than a decade. The government expects economic growth of 7 percent this year because it has raised interest rates three times to slow inflation.
The majority of foreign investment in the first half was in industrial and construction projects, the report said. Taiwan was the biggest among the 31 countries that invested in Vietnam, with 64 projects worth $8.2 billion, it said.
China Southern raises prices
China Southern Airlines Co (中國南方航空), the largest in China, and other Chinese carriers will raise ticket surcharges on domestic flights by as much as 50 percent to help cover rising fuel costs.
The levy on journeys of more than 800km will climb to 150 yuan (US$21.90) from 100 yuan, starting today, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday on a government Web site. The fee on shorter flights will rise to 80 yuan from 60 yuan.
The increases follow a 25 percent rise in domestic jet-fuel prices introduced on June 20 as part of a wider Chinese drive to cut energy use and cool economic growth.
MOF approves appointment
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday approved the appointments of Duan Wei (韋伯韜), former director-general of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, as chairman of the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司), while its vice president Hsu An-hsuen (徐安旋) was promoted to president, a press statement said.
Meanwhile, Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) is likely to be tapped to head the Bank of Taiwan (台銀) as its chair, replacing outgoing chairman Tsai Jer-shyong (蔡哲雄), local media reported yesterday.
Once the budget of state-owned Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控) is approved in the legislature, Chang will also be promoted to chair the parent company while doubling as the subsidiary bank’s chairwoman, the Chinese-language Economic Daily reported.
The report also said that incumbent Deputy Minister of Finance Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) may be appointed to head the Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), replacing chairman Hsu Teh-nan (�?n).
TSMC boss upbeat on stocks
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) was upbeat yesterday about the TAIEX.
“Fundamentals are good even though short-term momentum is worrying,” Chang said yesterday after attending a Straits Exchange Foundation board meeting.
He urged investors to remain calm, saying inflationary pressure would gradually ease and the rise in oil prices would slow down, while the current credit crisis would gradually bottom out.
But he disapproved of the government’s measures to bolster the TAIEX, which he said were usually ineffective.
NT dollar strengthens
The NT dollar yesterday firmed by NT$0.034 to close at NT$30.354 against the greenback on turnover of US$1.067 billion.
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