Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that fulfilling President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) campaign promise to fix the economy would take time, urging the public to have patience.
“The campaign slogan ‘Ma will turn things around right away’ (馬上好) put a lot of pressure on us. I think the slogan should have been ‘Ma will turn things around gradually’ (馬上漸漸好),” Liu said while addressing a meeting in Hsinchu County.
Liu and other Cabinet members met city and county heads and members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to discuss the economic situation.
Promising to gradually bolster the economy, Liu defended the Cabinet’s decision to raise prices of gas, utilities and commodities, saying that freezing prices would only have exacerbated the situation.
Liu said the Cabinet’s economic stimulus package, with a budget of NT$130.1 billion (US$4.28 billion), along with a supplementary budget, could boost economic growth by 0.45 percentage points and ease the impact of rising commodity and fuel prices.
Liu said the Cabinet would improve communication with local governments.
Local government heads urged Ma and his Cabinet to visit other cities and counties more often to gain a better understanding of the economic needs of each region. The Cabinet should contact local governments to arrange times for inspection tours, they said.
In response to local government concerns that state-controlled Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台灣肥料) is hoarding fertilizers and that fertilizers were too costly for farmers, Liu said the government would address the situation.
“We will catch anyone who is hoarding fertilizer and ask the company to reorganize its structure,” he said.
Last month, the Cabinet lifted a three-year freeze on fertilizer prices, allowing suppliers to factor in the rising costs of raw materials.
Farmers in the central and southern part of the country protested the change and said the move encouraged hoarding, leading to a shortage of fertilizer.
Also last month, the government raised gas prices by NT$6.5 per liter and premium grade diesel by NT$7.2 per liter in response to soaring oil prices. The prices will rise again next month.
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One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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