 |
|
Geopolitical Risks Persist, Weighing on Prices as Major Central Banks Tighten Policy
Foreign Trade Continues to Strengthen, but Manufacturers Grow More Guarded |
The global economy continues to grow moderately, though performance varies across major economies. US domestic demand remains resilient, and the Eurozone and Japan are also holding up, while China's domestic demand stays weak. Escalating tensions in the Middle East have added uncertainty to energy supply, pushing up oil prices and shipping costs; meanwhile, inflationary pressures have pushed major central banks toward tighter monetary policy. Going forward, attention should remain on geopolitical effects on energy prices, and on how major central banks' policies affect capital flows and financial markets.
Domestically, as international brands enter peak stocking season for new phone models, demand for related electronics has stayed strong. However, the widening US–Iran conflict, shipping disruptions, and rising oil prices have raised both raw material costs and external uncertainty, making manufacturers more cautious about August conditions. Looking ahead, besides persistent Middle East geopolitical risk, the AI boom's push on memory and chip costs may also dampen consumer electronics demand, slightly weakening manufacturers' outlook.
In services, retail was buoyed by summer travel, hot-weather spending, and holiday stocking, keeping business conditions active. Banking was supported by net interest margin income and investment/wealth management business, but performance weakened due to lower dividend income, higher bad-debt provisions ...Read more |
 |
|
 |
| Developing an Asian NASDAQ: Fostering Two-Way Interaction with the High-Tech Industry |
| The central government has proposed building an Asian NASDAQ-style market in Taiwan. Over the past two decades, other countries have pursued similar initiatives, and global capital markets have grown far more integrated. Building an Asian NASDAQ today is therefore harder than it would have been twenty years ago, requiring a more careful inventory and deployment of Taiwan's comparative advantages. In 2005, together with other scholars, I argued that Taiwan's international board should center on the high-tech sector we know best, particularly small, emerging high-tech firms from home and abroad, creating a market Taiwan has the expertise to analyze and manage, and one that could command international credibility and appeal. We further proposed leveraging Taiwan's high-tech base and talent to draw small high-tech companies from Europe and the U.S. to list here, with related funds managed by Taiwanese professionals. Only in this way, we argued, could Taiwan's international board have a genuine chance of succeeding. Today's effort faces stiffer competition, but Taiwan's relative strength in certain technologies has since grown, making it essential to deploy these capabilities while rigorously vetting listing candidates. Taiwan's manufacturing sector boasts a density of industrial clusters and complete production chains rare elsewhere, making it well suited for R&D and early-stage production by high-tech startups. Granting such startups priority listing access would combine Taiwan's abundant capital and entrepreneurial spirit with an attractive cluster environment. To this end, fundraising centers should develop complementary financial instruments, while the stock market, industry regulators, and other authorities integrate these strengths. Ambitions should stay measured, and the adverse side effects of international stock markets should not be overlooked. Taiwan could also negotiate with the U.S. so that future U.S. listings repatriating funds effectively recycle Taiwan's trade-surplus earnings into U.S. investment, offering an additional win-win approach to easing the long-standing Taiwan-U.S. trade imbalance. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
| |
Taiwan Economic Research Monthly
Advancing 2050 Net-Zero Transition through a Composite Net-Zero Technology Policy Framework |
| ‧ |
Countries worldwide have announced "2050 Net-Zero Emissions" plans, and Taiwan has set "Green Growth and 2050 Net-Zero Transition" as its policy goal. Amid new carbon targets, AI's rise, geopolitical shifts, and supply-chain carbon management, this month's feature centers on net-zero technology deployment across seven articles. On decarbonized energy, the articles examine diversifying domestic low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia production to strengthen energy security, and, drawing on European, Chinese, and Japanese offshore practices, recommend integrating Taiwan's offshore energy, storage, and green hydrogen technologies to expand offshore spatial use. On carbon cycling and green fuels, the articles note that carbon capture and utilization, unlike storage, faces no geological constraints and can convert captured carbon into high-value synthetic fuels, chemicals, and materials, accelerating low-carbon industrialization; they analyze global sustainable aviation fuel trends and propose building Taoyuan into a core SAF hub. On strategic resources, the articles explore advancing metal recycling in Taiwan's electronics industry, alongside the growing importance, under SBTi 2.0 and the GHG Protocol, of AI-driven, real-time supply-chain carbon management. Finally, technology deployment must coexist with society through inclusive, transparent governance, enabling an opportunity-rich transition.
|
|
|
|
|