Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang headed a big business group to Indonesia, saying that the archipelago held great promise as an investment spot.

Indonesia has introduced a drive to invest almost US$ 156 billion on infrastructure in the next five years, but says it will only be able to fund less than half, with the reminder coming from private investors.

According to reports, Sime Darby Bhd aims to set-up subsidiary boards by the first month of next year for the different business sections, which will include independent directors as well as industry experts.

In a statement, the company said that the step is directed at offering a culture of ownership and accountability across the group, improving the levels of control and increasing the board’s oversight of the division’s workings.

According to figures released by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, Shanghai’s import and export value increased by 32.4 percent year on year to hit US$31.27 billion in the last month of this year.

Moreover, the city’s exports were hit US$15.12 billion in August, an increase of 25.5 percent year on year, and its imports remained up by 39.6 percent as compared to last year to US$16.14 billion.

According to reports, Hong Kong’s consumer prices surged for the successive 12th month in August 2010 and at the strongest pace in the present growth sequence.

However, the federal government projects more increase in the inflationary figures.

The figures released by the Census and Statistics Department, “Annual inflation, as measured by the composite consumer price index, accelerated to 3 percent in August from 1.3 percent in July.”

According to recent reports issued by the Beijing Statistics Bureau, Beijing, China's capital city, has recorded a property growth of around 11.5 percent year on year in the last month, 0.9 percentage points less than that in July of this year.

In August, the costs of new residential properties zoomed 18.6 percent year on year.

Prices for commercial residential properties increased by 20.4 percent as compared to the same period of the last year, while costs for residential properties for low-income families as well as price limited properties increased by 3.6 percent.

According to the data released by the Shanghai’s consumer price index (CPI), the leading gauge of inflation, grew 3.2 percent year on year in the last month.

In the meantime, food prices have been increased by 7.3 percent year on year in August this year, and the prices for cigarettes, alcohol and related products increased 0.4 percent as compared to the same period of the last year.

The price of clothing reduced by .7 percent year on year in August this year.

According to the latest data released by the Beijing Statistics Bureau, the export as well as import value in Beijing increased by 31.3 percent year on year to hit US$25.43 billion in the last month of this year.

In August, the capital city recorded export value growth of 21.5 percent year on year to reach US$4.84 billion.

Beijing saw its import value increasing 33.9 percent to hit US$20.58 billion in August 2010.

According to the statement issued by the Polaris Research Institute (PRI), the think tank has lifted its prediction for Taiwan’s this year economic growth to 8.52%, up from earlier estimate of 6.82 percent, because of the high exports and growing private usage.

It was the third time when Polaris Research Institute has changed its estimation for the country’s 2010 gross domestic product (GDP) development after better results in GDP growth of 12.53 percent in the period of April-June of
2010, and 13.71 percent jump recorded during the first quarter of this year.

The statement released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan said that the country’s export orders in the last month hit an all time high mainly due to increasing demand for high-tech products.

During the last month, the country’s export orders stood at US$34.88 billion, a growth 23.30 percent as compared to the last year and a growth of 3.10 percent from the month of July, showing peak season for the international high-tech sector.

The ministry said that export orders showed deliveries 3 months in advance and are regarded as an important economic indicator.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), around 27 international firms are supposed to ink letters to intent on investing in the Taiwanese market at an investment promotion, with a joint investment sum worth NT$108.25 billion (US$3.42 billion).

The firms include eight from the United States, six from Europe and six from Japan, and three from Taiwan, funded firms overseas and the remaining are from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.