CRUDE LIMIT:Private investment in Taiwan’s petrochemical industry last year amounted to NT$275.8 billion, an 11.3 percent plunge from 2014’s NT$310 billion

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 27, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Taiwan’s private investments grew at a slower-than-expected annual pace of 2.82 percent last year, due to volatility in the global economy and falling prices of crude oil products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The growth was a significant retreat from 2014’s 6.65 percent annual increase, the ministry said.
It was also the first time in the past 10 years that private investments failed to reach the government’s annual goal, with total investments of NT$1.34 trillion (US$39.73 billion) — nearly NT$60 billion short of the target of NT$1.4 trillion — ministry data showed.
“Less investment from the petrochemical industry because of the sharp decline in oil prices last year is the main reason that private investments did not reach the annual goal,” Industrial Development Bureau Deputy Director-General Hsiao Chen-jong (蕭振榮) said at a news conference following the ministry’s meeting on the nation’s private and foreign investments.     [FULL  STORY]