Taiwan Today

The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. released its financial statement for the first half of the year Sept. 1, reporting a reduced deficit of NT$2.7 billion (US$81.8 million). This figure is much improved from the NT$11 billion lost in 2008 and NT$14.4 billion in 2007. The company’s total losses since beginning operations up to June this year amount to NT$70.2 billion, two-thirds of the company’s NT$105.3 billion capital. Jia Sian-de, spokesman for THSRC, said three key factors contributed to the improvement. First is the growing transport volume, increasing revenues. The firm earned NT$11.5 billion in the first half of 2009, a jump from the NT$5.38 billion and NT$10.9 billion in the same period in 2007 and 2008, respectively. This is a rare achievement compared to its overseas competitors, given the global financial crisis. The second factor is interest rate cuts. While THSRC paid NT$6.7 billion in interest in the first half of 2007 and NT$8.1 billion over the same period in 2008, interest for the first half of 2009 was down to NT$5.5 billion. The third cause is a reduction in depreciation and amortization costs. THSRC paid NT$9.3 billion and NT$9.5 billion, respectively, for the first half of 2007 and 2008, but it has only paid NT$4.1 billion this year in these categories. The reduction in interest, depreciation and amortization costs this year has helped the company save almost NT$8 billion, constituting the major reason for its much-reduced deficit. (TYH-THN)