Inbound Taiwan investment up 16.96 percent in 2014

2015-01-21

Approved inbound investment in Taiwan reached US$5.77 billion for 2014, up 16.96 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Jan. 20.

“This encouraging result reflects Taiwan’s improving business environment,” an MOEA official said. “With enhanced integration of cross-agency resources, we expect to boost global investment promotion and see further advances in 2015.”

The top five sources of foreign direct investment in Taiwan were the British Caribbean Territories, US$1.52 billion; Germany, US$558.8 million; Japan, US$548.8 million; Hong Kong, US$511.4 million; and Samoa, US$507.5 million, the MOEA Investment Commission said.

Finance and insurance, electronic component manufacturing, retail and wholesale, real estate and chemical material manufacturing were the five most popular investment targets, accounting for 68.73 percent of all FDI in Taiwan last year.

According to the commission, noteworthy cases include German chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck’s acquisition of AZ Electronic Materials PLC for US$520 million, and capital increases by Singaporean DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and British HSBC Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. of US$254 million and US$207 million, respectively. At the same time, outbound investment saw significant growth, surging 39.4 percent to US$7.29 billion, the commission added.

But investment from mainland China turned downward last year, decreasing 4.25 percent to US$334.6 million. By contrast, Taiwan invested US$9.83 billion on the other side of the strait, notching up a 13.18 percent increase.

The statistics show that accumulated mainland Chinese investment in Taiwan stands at US$1.2 billion since the government eased restrictions in 2009. Top recipients were retail and wholesale, 24.17 percent; banking, 16.80 percent; and port industries, 11.60 percent.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=226573&CtNode=413)