 |
|
Worsening trade war makes the global economy more uncertain
Headwinds facing the economy of Taiwan; export orders fall for a seventh straight month in May |
In May of 2019, it seemed that the trade conflicts between the US and China worsened. The deteriorating relations between the world market and world factory made the ambiguous global economy even more uncertain. As a result, Taiwan's export orders fell for a seventh straight month in May.
Taiwan's exports in May 2019 decreased by 4.77% compared with the same month of 2018, and it is the 7th-month consecutive decrease. Regarding imports, Taiwan's imports in May 2019 decreased by 5.92% compared with imports in May 2018. On the cumulated basis, exports and imports from January till the end of May this year gave a trade surplus of US$ 16.08 billion or decreased by 20.91% on a y-o-y basis.
Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.94% in May 2019 compared with the same month of previous year. The core inflation rate excluding prices of the energy and food grew by 0.62% in May 2019. In addition, the wholesale price index (WPI) moved down by 0.23% in May 2019 on the year-on-year basis.
As for exchange rate, the NTD similar to all other major currencies in the world went somewhat weaker due to the relatively stronger USD backed by stronger US economic performance. The NTD/USD stood at 31.615 in late May 2019 indicating a 2.28% depreciation. ...Read more |
 |
|
 |
| University team develops trash can that automatically sorts recyclables |
| National Tsing Hua University in June introduced a “smart” garbage can that can automatically identify and sort recyclable trash. Through built-in imaging sensors, the machine is able to distinguish and separate four types of garbage: metal cans, plastic bottles, glass and paper containers, said Yang Yu-hsuan (楊宇軒), a doctoral student in the university’s artificial intelligence research team. To enable machine learning, the team snapped tens of thousands of photographs of specific recyclables so that the machine could recognize and drop the waste into the correct chambers, Yang said. The smart garbage can can identify and sort each recyclable item in about three seconds, the team said. (Source: Taipei Times) |
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
Taiwan Economic Research Monthly
Challenges and strategies faces to the electricity market reform in Taiwan |
| ‧ |
Best practices of international electricity market reforms
 Despite the risks and costs of electricity market reform and there are many countries in the world still undergoing the power market reforms. In the process of electricity market reform, the establishment of a transition mechanism must also be considered at the same time, which should echo the objectives of better competitive markets. In order to understand the experiences of foreign electricity market reforms, this article summarises the best practices of related reforms in UK, California, Singapore, and Japan as the foundation of promoting electricity market reform in Taiwan
|
|
|
|
|