The Cabinet expects to present a detailed economic stimulus package by the middle of next month to energize the country’s struggling economy, after soliciting opinions from business representatives, an official said yesterday.
The package of short, medium and long-term measures are to be completed after a series of five meetings between Cabinet officials and business representatives on several economic issues, Executive Yuan spokesman Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉) said.
The Cabinet has already held three meetings with business representatives in the areas of international trade, energy policy and banking and financial services.
Two other meetings, on manpower and tourism, are scheduled to take place this week.
The issues being addressed include attracting private investment in public infrastructure projects, getting Taiwanese businesspeople operating overseas to increase investment back home, attracting foreign investment and retaining homegrown talent, Hu said.
The government will also review its current policies and mull loosening regulations to facilitate economic development before presenting the package prior to the opening of the next legislative session on Sept. 18, he said.
The Cabinet’s move came after the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Aug. 17 revised downward its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 1.66 percent from the 2.08 percent it estimated last month, as the slowing global economy has dragged down Taiwan’s export growth momentum.
In the second quarter, the economy shrank by 0.18 percent from a year earlier, the first quarterly contraction since the third quarter of 2009, after an increase of 0.40 percent was recorded in the first quarter, the DGBAS said. In the first half of this year, the economy grew 0.10 percent year-on-year, it said.
Separately, a business delegation organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs left for Japan yesterday, hoping to secure further cooperation between industries in the two countries.
The group, led by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Liang (梁國新), will discuss cooperation opportunities in the field of cloud computing with representatives from leading companies in Japan’s information technology and communications industries, such as NEC Corp and Fujitsu Ltd.
In addition, the delegation will meet with the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help deepen cooperation, according to the ministry’s Industrial Development Bureau.
Also scheduled are meetings with three major business associations in the manufacturing and service sectors to discuss jointly developing new technologies and emerging service models, and to solicit investment.
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