CONCERNS: Persistent negative output gaps show the economy still needs support, Yang Chin-long said, but the bank said it was not worried about a contraction in GDP

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The central bank yesterday kept its rediscount rate unchanged at 1.375 percent for the

11th consecutive quarter, on concerns about an economic slowdown at home and abroad as the US-China trade dispute lingers.

“Growing uncertainty and persistent negative output gaps warrant an extended accommodative monetary policy to help support economic growth,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a news conference in Taipei after the bank’s quarterly board meeting.

The central bank trimmed its GDP growth forecast for this year from 2.33 percent to 2.13 percent, as the global economy might fare weaker than expected, which would in turn slow demand for Taiwanese exports.

As inflation is also easing, because international crude oil and raw material prices have lost steam due to weakening demand, the bank also slashed its growth estimate for the consumer price index (CPI) and core CPI to 0.91 percent and 0.78 percent respectively this year, lower than the increases of 1.05 percent and 0.93 percent it predicted in December last year.   [FULL  STORY]

Resolution to trade conflict still not in sight: survey
 
Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/20 
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Asian businesses were still the most pessimistic in three years about economic prospects as the trade war between the United States and China was still nowhere near its resolution, reports said Wednesday.

A survey by Thomson Reuters and INSEAD Business School found that business sentiment in the first quarter looking at the next six months was flat, the Liberty Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/20
By: Chang Ming-hsun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Two types of medication, including the antidepressant Prozac,

will be pulled from Taiwan’s market next month, the Taiwan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Association (TPMA) said Wednesday.

The move comes after pharmaceutical manufacturers have been feeling the pinch of rising costs of raw materials, as well as reimbursement cuts for drugs covered by Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system.

Prozac (also known by its generic name fluoxetine), an antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), and Tienam, an antibiotic used in complicated infections, are to be withdrawn from Taiwan, according to TPMA.

Local pharmaceutical company Zuellig Pharma announced earlier this month that it will stop selling Prozac in Taiwan from April 1, citing rising costs of transport and raw materials and price cuts by the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA).
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News    
Date: 2019/03/19 
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — CYBERSEC 2019, which runs March 19 – 21, has extended from a cyber security show that initially concentrated on the domestic market to an export-focused show, event organizer iThome said on Tuesday.

iThome publisher and CYBERSEC founder Gu Zu-hui (谷祖惠) said that by holding the Asia Cyber Channel Summit, CYBERSEC 2019 has successfully attracted more than 30 agents from Southeast Asia countries, including Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, to procure Taiwan’s cyber security technologies, products, and services exhibited by more than 30 Taiwanese cyber security brands at the Cyber Taiwan Pavilion (臺灣資安館), which is co-organized by iThome and Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The pavilion has become an export platform for Taiwan’s cyber security industry, Gu added.

On Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) addressed the opening of CYBERSEC 2019, then visited the Cyber Taiwan Pavilion. Tsai showed her firsthand support of the trade event by promising to continue to invest in the Cyber Taiwan Pavilion, the organizer said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/19
By: Liu Lee-jung and Ko Lin 

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) National assets accrued from unclaimed inheritances amounted to NT$36.39 million (US$1.18 million) in 2018, the National Treasury Administration (NTA) reported Tuesday.

Under Article 1185 of the Civil Code chapter on Unacknowledged Succession, in cases when an inheritance becomes legally unclaimed after the rightful heirs fail to communicate or claim an interest in them over a certain period of time, the assets are turned over to the national treasury.

NTA Deputy Director-General Yen Chun-lan (顏春蘭) said there were 24 cases of unclaimed inheritances that year, of which the single largest sum collected by the national coffers was NT$19.61 million, left by a dead woman.

National assets credited to unclaimed inheritance were roughly NT$50 million in 2014 and NT$80 million in 2015, respectively, Yen said.    [FULL  STORY]

The new airline will sign an agreement with Airbus on Tuesday to purchase 17 A350 wide-body aircraft

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/18    
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s StarLux Airlines Co. (星宇航空), which plans to start operating flights early next year, will sign an agreement with Airbus in Taipei on Tuesday to purchase 17 A350 wide-body aircraft, Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Monday.

The deal is Airbus’ largest ever single order by a Taiwanese airline, according to Airbus data, CNA reported.

StarLux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus to purchase 17 A350XWB, including 5 A350-900 and 12 A350-1000, when he attended the Farnborough Airshow in the UK last July, the news outlet said.

The aircraft purchase agreement will be co-signed by Chang, Christain Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), and Paul Freestone, aircraft-engine producer Rolls-Royce’s senior vice-president, in Taipei, according to CNA.

After the signing of the agreement, StarLux will become Taiwan’s first airline to introduce A350-1000 aircraft.

Chang, who is a commercial pilot, was invited to experience the flight of A350-1000 early last year. He said that he was deeply impressed by the excellent performance and control of A350 aircraft, and considered A350-1000 very suitable for Taiwan’s geographic position and StarLux’s future flight route development.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/18
By: Liao Yu-yang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) decided Monday to keep Taiwan’s basic electricity rate unchanged at NT$2.6253 (US$0.085) per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The decision was made during a meeting convened by the Electricity Tariff Review Committee under the MOEA.

The committee reviews and proposes possible adjustments to electricity rates twice a year, and the ministry generally follows its recommendations.

In March 2018, the committee decided on a 3 percent hike to take effect beginning April 1, representing the first adjustment of power rates since April 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

LOW COSTS: The electricity review committee rejected Taipower’s proposal to raise power prices by 6.48 percent and denied speculation that the decision was political

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 19, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng, left, and Taipower Co president

Chung Bin-li speak at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would freeze electricity prices for another six months, as it expects falling crude and coal prices to help reduce power generation costs.

The ministry said it sees only a slim chance of power prices increasing in the second half of this year, as a wobbling global economy might reduce fuel consumption and keep prices in check.

“The electricity review committee concluded its [twice-yearly] meeting by keeping electricity rates unchanged, as fuel prices are to trend down in the longer term,” Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) told a media briefing in Taipei.

“Fuel costs play a major role in the electricity price adjustment mechanism,” Tseng said.
[FULL  STORY]