As the dispute over nuclear energy continues, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday said that a 10 percent rise in electricity rates would boost inflation by 0.359 percentage points and trim 0.13 percentage points off annual GDP growth.
However, when asked how much power rates would rise if the government abandons construction of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮), the DGBAS could not provide specifics.
“We need various government agencies to provide related data” to be able to make an evaluation, DGBAS Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Finance Committee.
Lawmakers said that the agency should collect the necessary data and present a report within a month on the potential impact on electricity rates, consumer prices and economic growth should the government abandon the plant.
Nuclear power now accounts for 18.6 percent of the nation’s power consumption, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) said.
Sun said the public would have to pay more if it does not want the government to operate the plant.
However, KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) suspected the impact would be slight, as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is only one of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
Meanwhile, at the legislature’s Economics Committee, Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said the agency would present a report assessing the impact of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant on the economy and industry within three months.
“The council will take a more pro-active role in providing the analysis, although we have never done such an assessment before,” Kuan said.
On Saturday, about 200,000 people marched through the streets of Taiwan, calling on the government to phase out the use of nuclear power, ahead of the two-year anniversary of Japan’s March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The nuclear power issue has recently grabbed the public’s attention, prompting Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) to announce on Feb. 25 that the government would hold a referendum on whether to continue construction of the the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said the council should provide the impact assessment before the referendum takes place, while KMT Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) said it should study whether there was a threat of power shortage if construction of the plant was halted, because the three existing nuclear power plants would terminate operations by 2025.
Asked about current economic conditions, Shih and Kuan said the economy was improving and there was a chance that companies would offer salary increases this year.
Shih said that GDP could grow by more than 3 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, following annualized growth of 3.72 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
That would pave the way for a much-anticipated pay raise as the growth rate would meet the government’s target for the Council of Labor Affairs to raise the nation’s minimum monthly wage to NT$19,047 from NT$18,780.
The government said last year that it would increase the wage only after the nation posted GDP growth of more 3 percent for two consecutive quarters.
While the nation still has to carefully watch the European debt crisis, the brighter economic prospects this year may make a salary increase possible, Kuan said.
Last month, the DGBAS forecast that GDP would grow by 3.26 percent in the first quarter and that full-year growth would reach 3.59 percent.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
HON HAI LURKS: The ‘Nikkei’ reported that Foxconn’s interest in Nissan accelerated the Honda-merger effort out of fears it might be taken over by the Taiwanese firm Nissan Motor Co has become the latest buyout target in Japan as it explores a merger with Honda Motor Co and faces an overture from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally. Shares in Nissan yesterday jumped 24 percent, the most on record, to hit the daily limit, after the two Japanese automakers acknowledged that talks are ongoing to better position themselves for competitive challenges during a time of upheaval in the global auto industry. Foxconn — a Taipei-based manufacturer of iPhones, which has been investing heavily in factories to build electric vehicles — has also
RSS