Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/27/2020
By: Tsai Peng-min and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on Friday launched a free hotline to help businesses determine whether they are eligible for special funding amid government efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cabinet approved a NT$60 billion special budget bill on Feb. 27, and announced Monday that it is planning to unveil a second economic stimulus package of around NT$40 billion.

The purpose of the 1988 hotline is to help businesses and members of the public to determine whether they are eligible for assistance, and connect them with designated contacts at the government agencies handling the funds, the MOEA said in a press release.

The services available to businesses include loan deferments, subsidized training programs and discounts on utilities.    [FULL STORY]

Mises Wire
Date: March 26, 2020
By: Javier Caramés SanchezWilliam Hongsong Wang

As the Austrian school of economics demonstrates in the calculation theory of socialism, no central planning body has the capacity to organize society based on coercive mandates. The main reason is that the central planner is unable to obtain all the necessary information to organize society in this way, as information has subjective, creative, dispersed, and tacit qualities. This principle is fully applicable to the containment of a pandemic. Individual responsibility along with transparency of information are crucial to stopping a pandemic. Taiwan makes a very good case for how individualism and voluntary corporation work effectively in resisting the coronavirus pandemic.

Close to the Chinese Mainland, but Relatively Few People Infected

At the moment in Taiwan, the infection has been completely contained despite being one of the countries with the highest risk of suffering a pandemic, given that the Republic of China (ROC) is very close to the Chinese mainland (the People’s Republic of China (PRC)). Until January there were flights between Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and the epicenter of Wuhan, China. However, as of March 21 there were only 153 infected at the same time that Europe, far away from the Chinese mainland, has more than ten thousand affected by the coronavirus. However, in Taiwan and other parts of Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, no massive mandatory quarantine or containment has been applied so far.

How did Taiwan achieve this?    [FULL  STORY]

Service frequency changed to express train every 30 minutes during off-peak hours

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taoyuan Airport MRT will reduce services and run an express train every 30 minutes during off-peak hours due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, CNA reported.

Taoyuan Metro Corporation decided to implement the adjustment from April 6 to June 14, according to the report. Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) agreed, saying though commuters still take the airport MRT, the volume of passengers has decreased significantly, the report said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/26/2020
By: Flor Wang and Pan Chih-yi

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) Taiwan shares finished above 9,700 points on the local stock market Thursday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the second day in a row.

Led by computer-related shares, the weighted index, the key barometer of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, ended the day 91.61 points higher, or 0.95 percent, at 9,736.36. Turnover totaled NT$152.79 billion (US$5.04 billion).

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacture Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker and most heavily weighted stock on the local market, climbed 1.08 percent to NT$280.

Largan Precision Co., a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc., soared 2.7 percent to NT$3,995, while iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. lost 0.56 percent to finish at NT$71.    [FULL  STORY]

Short-term relief measures will prevent businesses from shutting down in next six months.

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As Taiwan’s COVID-19 cases have escalated in recent days, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) announced on Wednesday six economic relief measures to respond to the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.

The mayor's new measures include “time extensions to file tax returns,” “rent reduction,” “price reduction,” “interest rate cuts,” “subsidies,” and “tax cuts,” UDN reported.

Ko said that judging from the evolving situation of COVID-19 around the world, the pandemic will not resolve itself quickly.

The mayor added that the short-term relief measures are being put in place to prevent businesses from shutting down, which would cause a great number of workers to lose their jobs in the next six months. As for a mid-term plan, Ko referred to a multi-billion dollar relief package that the central government is putting forth.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date:03/25/2020
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved sharply higher Wednesday as investors were encouraged by a strong showing on U.S. markets overnight amid rising hopes that the U.S. Congress will soon pass a US$2 trillion stimulus package to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, dealers said.

Large-cap stocks across the board rode the wave of optimism toward the U.S. stimulus plan as investors took cues from a more-than 11 percent increase on the Dow Jones Industrial Average a day earlier, pushing up the main board by almost 4 percent, the dealers said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), or Taiex, closed up 359.13 points, or 3.87 percent, at 9,644.75, after moving between 9,426.43 and 9,722.37, on turnover of NT$182.99 billion (US$6.05 billion).

The market opened up 1.52 percent in reaction to the Dow's upturn, the biggest one-day percentage gain since 1933, and momentum on the local main board accelerated, with buying focusing on market heavyweights such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which vaulted the Taiex past the 9,700-point mark before some profit-taking emerged to cap the gains, the dealers said.

"Since an intraday low of 8,523 points Wednesday, the Taiex bounced back significantly, so it came as no surprise that the Taiex came off its high today as some investors just wanted to keep cash on hand for the moment," Ta Chan Securities analyst Jerry Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

‘DAMAGE’: Diminished market demand has become a reality amid travel restrictions and a recovery is evasive, the president of the Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 26, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶華綜經院) yesterday cut its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 2.3 percent to 1.5 percent as the COVID-19 pandemic deals a blow to the global economy with no signs of easing anytime soon.

“The damage caused by COVID-19 is evolving beyond the depths of existing economic models, because health experts around the world do not have a full grasp of the disease yet,” said Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源), the Taipei-based think tank’s president.

Research institutes at home and abroad are comparing the pandemic to the SARS outbreak of 2003 or the global financial crisis of 2008, but there is no guarantee that the analogies are valid or sound, Liang said.

However, the one thing that is certain is that the virus is quickly sweeping from Asia to Europe, the US and other parts of the world, dimming global trade outlook and chilling consumer activity, he said.    [FULL  STORY]