Export processing zones draw record investments

Investments totalling an all time high of NT$40.4 billion were channeled into the export processing zones across Taiwan in the first seven months of this year, the Export Processing Zone Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) reported yesterday.

During the January-July period, NT$23.5 billion worth of capital from 49 new investment plans was injected into nationwide export processing zones, while some NT$16.9 billion came from increased capital by another 54 companies which are already operating in these zones, statistics compiled by the administration showed.

The combined figure of NT$40.4 billion has surpassed the full-year target of NT$37 billion set by the MOEA for 2008, and is the highest investment sum ever recorded in the zones for the January-July period, administration officials noted.

The officials predicted that more than NT$50 billion worth of capital will be invested in the export processing zones throughout the country for the whole of this year.