Taiwan finance chiefs upbeat on improving bleak economic picture
Taiwan state officials responsible for finance were optimistic about exceeding analysts’ latest forecast of 0.9-per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the lowest estimate so far this year.
The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), a leading Taiwan-based think tank, on Thursday became the first among authoritative economy monitors to lower its annual GDP growth for Taiwan to below 1 per cent.
“I think we can still hope to exceed 1 per cent,” Vice Finance Minister Wu Tang-chieh said on Thursday.
Wu said government plans were underway to boost GDP growth by opening additional channels for private investment in the public sector.
The Finance Ministry was seeking to expedite the investment process, Wu told Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen during an interpellation session at the Finance Committee.
He urged the Legislative Yuan to approve revisions to the Statute for Industrial Innovation and other ministry-backed bills that would induce individuals to invest in the public sector.
At another venue, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman William Tseng said that central authorities were working to ensure that the latest CIER projection does not become a reality.
Through the FSC, the Executive Yuan has been implementing stimulus measures including the expansion of business loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and corporations, Tseng said.
In the second half of the year, the FSC will step up its efforts to help insurance companies add public construction projects to their portfolios, Tseng told reporters before a charity event organised by the FSC at its headquarters.
Economics ministry targets exports
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu said the Economics Ministry (MOEA) was also targeting 1-per cent GDP growth.
The MOEA is currently in talks with industry leaders to identify measures that can be taken immediately to boost exports, Yang said.
New projection ahead
The Executive Yuan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics is scheduled to release a projection on November 27 based on the latest available economic indicators.
Its latest forecast pegs annual economic growth at 1.56 per cent, but market analysts have said a rate cut is ahead.
CIER announced that its forecast for national GDP growth was not more than 0.9 per cent, down from an earlier prediction of 3.04 percent in July.