Industrial production rises for 15th month in row
‘SPORADIC CASES’: More than half of manufacturers in a survey said they expect the positive trend to extend into this month, despite a local outbreak of COVID-19
By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
The industrial production index last month rose for the 15th consecutive month on an annual basis on the back of rising demand for semiconductor and electronic products, due to the stay-at-home economy and demand for 5G-related devices amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
On a monthly basis, industrial production and manufacturing output dropped 9.26 percent and 9.88 percent respectively, the ministry said.
Tax revenue soars on securities, property sales
BEATING FORECAST: Tax revenue in the first four months increased 15.5 percent annually to NT$599.9 billion and covered 24.6 percent of the government budget
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
The national treasury last month collected NT$132.7 billion (US$4.75 billion) in tax revenue, an increase of 11.4 percent from a year earlier, bolstered mainly by sharp increases in securities and property transactions, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Securities transactions generated a record NT$24.4 billion in tax revenue, rising 1.6 times from a year earlier, as daily turnover on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange expanded almost threefold to a new high of NT$526.9 billion, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) told a news conference in Taipei.
The industrial production index rose 16.78 percent annually to a record high of 136.16 last month, thanks to robust demand for technology products and vehicles, while retail sales rose to surpass pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The index, an indicator measuring real output in manufacturing, electricity, mining and water supply, rose for the 14th consecutive month, ministry data showed.
The main momentum came from the sub-index of electronic components production which has a 43 percent weighting in the index expanding 26.68 percent year-on-year to 169.79, marking the 16th month it expanded by a double-digit
Stock market boosts tax revenue
By Angelica Oung / Staff reporter
Taiwan’s booming stock market contributed to a record quarter of tax revenue, figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Finance showed.
Tax revenue for last month was NT$200.9 billion (US$7.06 billion), up 19.2 percent year-on-year, with cumulative tax revenue from January to March totaling a record NT$467.2 billion, an annual increase of 16.6 percent.
While gift, inheritance, business, alcohol and tobacco, and land value incremental tax revenues all reached double-digit growth in the first quarter, the most remarkable growth was in securities transaction tax revenue, which reached a record NT$55.9 billion in the first quarter, up 102.8 percent year-on-year.
Flat-panel industry is out of the doldrums: ministry
By Angelica Oung / Staff reporter
Taiwan’s flat-panel industry has emerged from the doldrums thanks to a COVID-19-related surge in demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Production value in the industry last year grew 0.3 percent from 2019, ending two years of declines, the ministry said in a statement.
The local flat-panel industry was affected by oversupply due to Chinese competition in 2018 and 2019, with its production value dropping 16.9 percent annually to NT$725.4 billion (US$25.47 billion at the current exchange rate) in 2019, a 14-year low, ministry data showed.
A model poses next to a 65-inch ultra-high-definition, 4K flat-panel display from AU Optronics Corp in Taipei on Feb. 26, 2019.