President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) praised small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for their longstanding efforts in helping boost the country’s economy by investing in Taiwan over the past few years.
Ma lauded them during a ceremony held in Taipei on Monday to honor 18 Taiwanese SME entrepreneurs in recognition of their significant contribution to the country.
The president also commended the entrepreneurs for helping stabilize the country’s economy, as Taiwan’s 1.24 million SMEs account for 98 percent of all enterprises and 77 percent of the total job openings in the country.
Ma said that to improve Taiwan’s economic environment, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government has earmarked NT$50 billion (US$1.53 billion) since it was inaugurated May 20 this year to expand domestic demand.
Expressing confidence in the country’s economy, the president said that the government also intends to earmark more than NT$100 billion next year for public works, Ma said.
The president reaffirmed that the government has worked out a plan to inject funds into the local stock market, whose benchmark index has plunged more than 4,100 points as of Monday since the government took office.
Ma acknowledged that the global financial crisis that has battered the local bourse has also negatively impacted on the economy as a whole.
He said, however, that Taiwan’s financial sector is still functioning normally, and that the government will do its utmost to map out measures to prevent the sectors from incurring losses as a result of the crisis.
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