President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday met with his four-member economic advisory panel, headed by Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), to discuss policy initiatives to develop the nation's service industries.
"The service sector, which accounts for 67 percent of the nation's gross domestic product [GDP], will be key to re-invigorating our economy," Chen said after yesterday's meeting.
Following advice from his economic advisors, Chen yesterday vowed to adopt deregulatory measures, allowing service industries to upgrade while facilitating a knowledge-based service sector.
He said that restrictions and barriers that hinder service industries from launching innovative products will be removed in pursuit of the sector's liberalization and internationalization.
International standards will be incorporated into legal revisions to attract investment from multinationals, Chen added.
Chen vowed yesterday to transform Taiwan into an asset management hub in Asia.
He, therefore, urged the legislature to make the passage of the bill revision of Financial Restructuring Fund (金融重建基金) a top priority in the upcoming sessions in September in order to speed up the nation's financial reforms.
Chen Po-chih (陳博志), chairman of the Taiwan Thinktank (台灣智庫), yesterday said that the economic panel believes the government should be allowed to use the fund to bail out distressed banks' non-depository liabilities.
But opposition parties had previously threatened to more than halve the size of the fund from NT$680 billion to NT$320 billion, thereby preventing banks from covering the liabilities.
"The sources from which venture capital companies raise capital should be expanded to include government funds and insurers' capital," Chen Po-chih said yesterday.
President Chen concluded yesterday's meeting by expressing his confidence in the nation's economic growth, which he said is expected to reach 3.96 percent and 4.67 percent respectively in the third and fourth quarter.
He said that the EIU has projected Taiwan's 2004 GDP growth rate would hit 5.4 percent -- a rosier figure than the govern-ment's estimate of 3.81 percent.
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