Despite slowing export growth amid a weakening global industry cycle, the government said it was still aiming for 4.51 percent economic growth this year, according to a Cabinet statement released late on Tuesday night.
The GDP goal was reaffirmed after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Vice Premier Wu Rong-i (
Wu said the goal could be met by accelerating spending on infrastructure, promoting tourism and improving the investment environment, along with other measures.
According to the statement, the seven-point stimulus measures include NT$300 billion (US$9.4 billion) in subsidized mortgages and an eight-year, NT$80 billion budget to prevent floods.
The measures also include speeding up the "Ten New Major Construction Projects," expanding build-operate-transfer projects and instituting a NT$200 billion preferential financing plan for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The economy grew 2.5 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, which prompted the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to revise downward this year's GDP growth rate to 3.63 percent from the 4.21 percent it previously predicted.
The stimulus package is expected to boost growth by 0.93 percent, but after subtracting a 0.05 percent decline caused by oil price hikes, the package will actually contribute 0.88 percent to the growth rate.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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