Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/24
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (台塑石化), a privately owned gasoline supplier,

said Saturday that it has decided to leave its gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week, ending five weeks of fuel price hikes.

The company said in a statement that it made the decision based on the facts that international crude oil prices have fluctuated in a narrow range and a devaluation of the local currency against the U.S. dollar was seen over the past week.

Fuel prices at Formosa Petrochemical gas stations islandwide will remain next week at NT$22.3 per liter for super diesel, NT$24.8 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$26.3 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$28.6 per liter for 98 unleaded.

The company’s major competitor, state-owned CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油), is also expected to maintain its current fuel prices when it makes a price announcement at noon Sunday, market sources said.    [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Liu Shih-yi and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) The Taipei High Administrative Court on Friday rejected a petition by the opposition Kuomintang to suspend a sanction issued by the Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee last month.

At issue is a sanction handed down by the committee on Nov. 2, which determined that Central Investment Co. and Hsinyutai Co. are organizations affiliated to the KMT.

Hsu Jui-chu (許瑞助), a spokesman for the court, said the KMT had asked for a suspension of the sanction arguing that it would damage the companies in question, but the court rejected the petition after conducting an investigation and determining that the sanction would not result in “irredeemable damage.”

The ruling can be appealed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The newly passed amendment to the Labor Standards Act takes effect on Friday, a week earlier than

Jan 1, 2017 as expected after President Tsai Ing-wen signed it into law on Tuesday.

The amendment stipulates that there are two days off for every seven days, one of which is an “official holiday” and the other is a “rest day.” The “official holiday” is a mandatory holiday, but the “rest day” means workers who need more income can opt to work on this day if the company offers them to work.

The new regulations about overtime pay will come into effect on Friday as well, stipulating that employees will be paid an hourly wage of 2.34 times the regular hourly wage if they work on a “rest day” for within two hours, and will be paid an hourly wage of 2.67 times from the third hour on. Working for more than two hours but less than four hours on a “rest day” will be calculated as working for four hours, working for between four and eight hours will be regarded as working for eight hours, and working for between 8 hours and 12 hours will be regarded as working for 12 hours, according to the new regulations.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) An agreement between Taiwan and Canada on the avoidance of double taxation

will be implemented at the start of next year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) confirmed Thursday.

The agreement will help create a friendlier environment for bilateral investment and cooperation, particularly in the areas of technology, health care, clean energy, sustainable development and services, the ministry said.

Under the agreement, taxes cannot be levied by both sides on the same assets, income or financial transactions, and it applies to residents of both countries, it noted.

“For Taiwanese businesspeople in Canada, as long as they do not have a permanent establishment there, Canada will not tax their operating profits and they will pay 17 percent income tax in Taiwan,” the MOF said.   [FULL  STORY]

UNCERTAINTY:Economist Lucas Lee said the bank might retain the rates in the first half of next year to judge US president-elect Donald Trump’s effect on the economy

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 23, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The central bank yesterday kept its policy interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive quarter,

saying the nation’s economy is experiencing stable growth, but the pace is not fast enough to merit a policy change.

“The board meeting decided to maintain a loose monetary policy stance as uncertainty over the global economy lingers,” Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) told a news conference in Taipei.

Benign inflation, forecast to rise to between 1 percent and 1.5 percent by different research institutes, means there is no urgency in ending the “status quo,” the central bank said.

The decision means the bank’s discount rate remains at 1.375 percent, the collateralized loan rate at 1.75 percent and the unsecured loan rate at 3.625 percent.

Economists have said the central bank would maintain its rates for at least another six months, allowing the export-focused economy more room to recover from the slowdown in China and a mixed showing in the eurozone.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 23, 2016
By: The China Post news staff and CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s economy is expected to grow at a slightly higher rate next year compared to

2016, Taiwan’s top research body said.

Academia Sinica’s Institute of Economics forecast that the economic growth rate for 2017 will be 1.68 percent. According to the forecast, economic performance in developed and developing countries, as well as emerging markets, will stabilize, which will fuel the country’s exports and investment.

The research body forecast that the real economic growth rate for 2016 will be 1.23 percent.

Academia Sinica, the nation’s highest academic research organization, said in a report on the economic outlook for 2017 that the domestic economy in the first half of 2016 did not show remarkable improvement.

But exports rebounded in the second half of the year, buoyed by demand for smart products, which led to investment by the nation’s manufacturing industry.    [FULL  STORY]