Chairman C.W. Chin Announces Results of the 2020 Business Climate Survey

The results of AmCham Taipei’s 2020 Business Climate Survey were presented by Chamber Chairman C.W. Chin at a news conference held in the Chamber’s Lincoln Room on March 4. Over 30 local and international media organizations attended the briefing, which was followed by a special membership luncheon.

Compared with the 2019 survey results, a higher percentage of companies this year expressed optimism regarding Taiwan’s economic performance over the next 12 months, as well as the next three years. Although the COVID-19 outbreak led to a reduced proportion of positive responses in the latter part of the survey period, confidence about future economic growth and business prospects remained high overall.

 

In addition, C.W. Chin emphasized that while respondents in the 2019 BCS were worried about the uncertainty caused by the U.S.-China trade dispute, almost half of companies surveyed this year viewed the tensions as having a positive effect on their business in Taiwan. Only 10.75% responded that the dispute has had a large impact on their business.

Chin said that a few major issues continue to cause concern among the Chamber’s members. Chief among these are Taiwan’s future energy supply, including power supply sufficiency, voltage stability, and the cost of electricity; labor policies on working hours and overtime; and the regulatory environment.

Furthermore, respondents highlighted the importance of bilateral trade and investment agreements between Taiwan and the U.S. to their business, and urged the early resumption of talks to resolve outstanding trade and investment issues between the two sides.

Speaking with reporters after the presentation, C.W. Chin praised Taiwan’s disease prevention efforts in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, which may have reassured some survey-takers. He also spoke in positive terms about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent emergency interest rate cut, noting that since most of the Chamber’s members are U.S. companies, reducing the cost of capital by lowering interest rates will help them through this crisis.

The 2020 Business Climate Survey was conducted between January and February this year. Top executives of 391 member companies completed the survey, a response rate of 50.3%.

Technical guidance for the survey was provided by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

See the full presentation below or download the complete report, click here.

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