The Ministry of Culture and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency yesterday launched a NT$10 billion (US$342.28 million) loan scheme with 10 participating banks to assist entrepreneurs aged 20 to 45 in the cultural and creative industries.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has introduced a policy to make available NT$60 billion in loans to help young people start businesses after the outbreak of COVID-19, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) told a news conference in Taipei.
Local banks used to be relatively unfamiliar with loans for cultural and creative businesses, and likewise, cultural and creative businesses are relatively inexperienced in working with banks, Lee said.
Photo: CNA
For this reason, the ministry asked the Executive Yuan to dedicate NT$10 billion of the NT$60 billion in loans to cultural and creative businesses, he said.
Cultural and creative businesses less than five years old and headed by people aged 20 to 45 can apply for the loans, the ministry said.
Applicants must have taken 20 hours of entrepreneurship courses, either in person or online, it said.
Entrepreneurs in the performing arts, bookstore, crafts, fashion design, animation, music, board game, illustration, magazine, curation, gallery and image licensing sectors, as well as up-and-coming YouTube and podcast creators, are among those who are eligible to apply, the ministry said.
The program offers various kinds of loans — such as up to NT$2 million for “start-up reserves” for businesses in their first eight months, or up to NT$12 million for capital expenditures — for which the government would provide credit guarantees of 80 to 95 percent, it said.
The credit guarantee is provided by the Small & Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan, it said.
For loans of less than NT$1 million, interest would be fully subsidized for five years, it added.
Participating banks are Bank of Taiwan, Chang Hwa Bank, Taiwan Business Bank, Land Bank of Taiwan, Mega International Commercial Bank, First Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Hua Nan Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank and Taichung Bank, the ministry said.
The ministry is to hold seminars nationwide to explain the loan scheme in detail, it said.
It has also set up a Web page with information about the program, including application forms, it added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to