CEPD adjusts numbers
The Council for Economic Plan-ning and Development (CEPD) estimated that the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) would cut half the nation's economic growth this year, after the government reported the largest one-day rise in cases of the illness yesterday.
"The economic growth is likely to slow to 1.75 percent this year from the original 3.5-percent forecast, due to the disease," the council's advisor Lee Kao-chao (李高朝) said yesterday. Lee didn't elaborate on the time frame that how the disease could affect the economy that much.
"To offset the negative impact of SARS on economy, the government needs to speed up its pace in promoting the NT$70 billion public works projects and expansionary fiscal policy," he said.
The impact of the contagion has been felt primarily in tourism, airlines, transportation and other business activities, and even exports, Lee said. Every one percentage point drop in GDP will generate one percentage point rise in unemployment, he added.
The private Taiwan Institute of Economic Research last week said it would cut its forecast for the nation's economic growth from 3.5 percent to somewhere between 1.74 and 1.44 percent this year.
Chung Shing bashes accusation
The Central Depository Insurance Co (中央存保), which took over the management of debt-ridden Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行) in 2000, yesterday lambasted the failed bank's former chairman Wang Yu-yun (王玉雲) for his groundless accusation of Central Depository's inappropriate take-over measures.
Chung Shing's previous poor credit policies, its growing non-performing loans and the sluggish property market have all attributed to the lender's further losses in assets after it was managed by Central Despository, the statement said.
In a newspaper advertisement yesterday, Wang who run the bank for eight years accused the governmental insurer of deteriorating the bank's assets during its stewardship, saying the insurer should be held responsible for the bank's liability of NT$80 billion.
Bankers support anti-NPL bill
In an effort to push forward early passage of the Financial Res-tructuring Fund (金融重建基金) bill, the Ministry of Finance has asked banks to exert pressure on the legislature.
The Bankers Association of ROC (銀行公會) yesterday expressed its support to the ministry's move. "We'll ask our member banks to communicate with legislators and lobby for their support for the restructuring fund bill," Kuo Yu-chyi (郭玉麒), the association's secretary general, said yesterday.
Kuo declined to say whether he supports the ministry's proposal to increase the fund to NT$908 billion from the current NT$140 billion.
Yuan appoints bank chairman
The Executive Yuan is expected to appoint Herbert Chung (鍾甦生), president of the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行), to head the Bank of Overseas Chinese (華僑銀行) on Saturday.
As its biggest shareholder with 20 percent shares, the Cabinet's Development Fund (開發基金) committee has nominated six designated board members including David Jou (周國瑞), a finance professor from National Taiwan University, and Hsu Chin-chou (許欽洲), deputy executive secretary of the development fund committee as well as one supervisor candidate.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.044 to close at NT$34.856 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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