The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday cut first quarter economic growth to 3.21 percent from 4.22 percent for the fourth quarter of last year.
The nation's top number crunchers predicted that second-quarter GDP growth would slide from 3.06 percent to 1.2 percent, dragging down GDP growth for this year to 2.89 percent amid the worsening SARS epidemic.
Slowing economic growth was caused by a drop in commercial activities and consumption in the second quarter, according to a DGBAS report released yesterday.
The official forecast appears optimistic when compared to those of research groups.
"In late April we predicted that economic growth for the year would be between 1.74 percent and 1.44 percent if SARS fails to be contained by the end of the year," Yu Min-chun (尤敏君), a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said yesterday.
Another research organization, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, predicted on April 17 that if SARS is not under control by year end, GDP growth for this year will be dragged down to 2.71 percent.
The government expects the slide in GDP growth to be slowed by various SARS-relief measures and the passage of the NT$50 billion public construction program, the DGBAS report said.
But Yu said the package would not be enough.
"While the aid package may temporarily help industries hard hit by SARS, those measures won't be enough to support them if SARS drags on," Yu said.
GDP may not be the only SARS casualty.
Rising numbers of jobless may soon follow, with unemployment rising by 1.2 percentage points, Yu said.
Cheng Cheng-mount (
"The unemployment rate has not climbed significantly because many staff prefer going without a salary to losing their jobs," Cheng said. "But the rate will climb when companies cannot survive and declare bankruptcy."
Meanwhile, the government's export growth forecast for this year was cut to 7.0 percent from 7.4 percent. Last year, exports rose 6.3 percent after falling 17.2 percent in 2001.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)