By Flora Wang
Staff Reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) held an extraordinary meeting with Cabinet officials at the Presidential Office last night to discuss the recent slide in the stock market.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) told a press conference later that the Cabinet had briefed the president about the nation’s economic problems — including last week’s drop in the stock market and rising commodity prices — as well as proposals to tackle the situation.
Central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) reported on the bank’s moves to stabilize commodity prices, while Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) briefed the president on the ministry’s response to rising utility and gasoline prices, Wang said.
The president praised the Cabinet and the central bank for the measures they had taken to rein in soaring prices, Wang said.
“The president believes that the recent rises in commodity prices result from the nation’s dependence on imported energy, but that Taiwan’s situation remains basically healthy,” Wang said.
Yesterday’s was the first meeting convened by the president on the matter.
The Executive Yuan has drawn up plans to increase the number of middle and low-income households that receive utility bill cuts, Wang said, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs will present “unprecedented” incentives today to encourage households to conserve electricity.
“The president acknowledged the Cabinet’s measures and urged members of the Cabinet to sympathize with the public and take care of those who cannot handle rising commodity prices,” Wang said.
Similar meetings with the president will be held at intervals, he said.
A Cabinet-level task force met on Saturday to discuss revitalizing the stock market after Friday’s nosedive to a five-month low.
The task force resolved to encourage domestic insurance companies — which control an estimated NT$8 trillion (US$262.7 billion) in capital — to invest in the stock market and the “i-Taiwan” 12 infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) inspected the Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday ahead of the launching of cross-strait charter flights.
When approached for comment, Liu declined to reveal details of the task force’s proposals, saying only that the team would do the right thing at the right time.
The premier said he should refrain from making comments that could affect the stock market.
During the trip, Liu was criticized by Kaohsiung-area Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, who complained that only one charter flight from China would arrive in Kaohsiung on Friday, the first day of the flights.
“Kaohsiung residents could not help but shed tears when they found out the direct charter flight schedule for July 4,” KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) told Liu.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) told Liu “everyone seemed uninterested in Kaohsiung International Airport” when the schedule was made.
“[The schedule] was not something the central government could control. It had to do with the market on the one hand and with whether local governments made enough of an effort on the other,” Liu said.
Four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government chiefs from the south protested on Friday against the schedule, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who said the schedule was unfair to the south.
Also See: EDITORIAL: The economy can't afford missteps
Also See: Government urges buying local stocks
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
TALKS CONTINUE: Although an agreement has not been reached with Washington, lowering the tariff from 32 percent to 20 percent is still progress, the vice premier said Taiwan would strive for a better US tariff rate in negotiations, with the goal being not just lowering the current 20-percent tariff rate, but also securing an exemption from tariff stacking, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday. Cheng made the remarks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan explaining the new US tariffs and the government’s plans for supporting affected industries. US President Donald Trump on July 31 announced a new tariff rate of 20 percent on Taiwan’s exports to the US starting on Thursday last week, and the Office of Trade Negotiations on Friday confirmed that it
RSS