World Economic

Taiwan’s export orders dropped by a record in January, threatening to stoke unemployment and deepen the island’s recession.

Orders fell 41.67 percent from a year earlier after December’s 33 percent plunge, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on its Web site today. That was a steeper decline than the 38 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists.

The global recession is pummeling exports across Asia, with South Korea’s overseas shipments plunging by a record in January and Singapore’s falling by the most in at least 22 years. Taiwan’s central bank cut interest rates to a record low last week and may make further reductions after the economy shrank in the fourth quarter by the most since at least 1952.

“Interest rates have to fall further,” said Tigr Cheng, a Taipei-based economist at Polaris Securities Co. “The government has to encourage the private sector to invest.”

A weeklong Lunar New Year holiday in January, which fell in February in 2008, may have contributed to the decline.

The jobless rate has already climbed to the highest since 2003 and the government is forecasting that gross domestic product will decline by a record this year.

The central bank cut last week the discount rate on 10-day loans to banks to 1.25 percent from 1.5 percent, the seventh reduction since late September. Cheng predicts policy makers will slash the rate to 0.5 percent, declining to say when bad credit personal loan lenders.

Asustek, Quanta

Taipei-based Asustek Computer Inc., the world’s largest supplier of boards that connect computer parts, this month reported its first quarterly loss on waning demand and currency fluctuations.

Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc., the world’s largest maker of notebook computers, said its shipments will fall more than 30 percent this quarter as the global slowdown exacerbates a seasonal dip.

The data was released after the close of trading on the island’s bourse. The Taiex stock index has declined 3.5 percent this year.

Export orders fell to $17.68 billion in January from $20.79 billion in December. Overseas shipments are equivalent to about three-quarters of gross domestic product.

Orders from China and Hong Kong, Taiwan’s largest market, fell 54.71 percent from a year earlier, after they plunged 47.13 percent in December. Many Taiwanese electronics makers send parts to China for re-export as finished products.

Demand from the U.S., Taiwan’s second-largest market, fell 36.75 percent, compared with a 24.73 percent decline in December.

Orders for electronics goods fell 38.85 percent, compared with a 30.84 percent decline in December. Demand for information technology and communications products fell 30.47 percent, from a 23.13 percent drop in the previous month.

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