Foreign direct investment (FDI) approved by the government last month fell more than 49 percent from a year earlier, due to a relatively high comparison base over the same period last year, the Investment Commission said on Saturday.
Commission data showed that the approved FDI fell 49.07 percent from a year earlier to US$508.12 million, but remained the second-highest in a decade.
The figure for January last year was boosted by Danish renewable energy developer Orsted A/S’ investment in its local subsidiary’s offshore wind farm business.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
Last month, the commission approved 228 FDI applications, down 45.19 percent from a year earlier, with most of the applications coming from Germany, the British West Indies, Japan, Samoa and the US.
The number of new companies set up by foreign investors was 137, valued at US$842 million, including 43 investment plans from countries under the New Southbound Policy, down 15.69 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Investment value from countries under the policy rose 94.05 percent from a year earlier to US$24.63 million, with companies from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia the main investors, the commission said.
Approved investment from China totaled US$1.51 million, down 34.12 percent year-on-year, it said.
The combined value of investment across the Taiwan Strait fell 53.55 percent year-on-year to about US$250 million, the commission said.
Foreign-bound investment amounted to US$377 million, down 50.58 percent from a year earlier, it said.
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