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Premier defends record on economic development

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday defended the government's record on the economy as opposition lawmakers criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration for slowing economic development.

"We have been driving backwards instead of moving forward over the past seven years," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Teh-fu (林德福) said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature yesterday morning.

Lin said that a majority of Taiwanese were now poorer than their South Korean counterparts because of inflation and the government's failure to boost the economy over the last seven years.

"I don't think that is accurate," Chang said. "The average annual economic growth rate has been steady at around 4 percent over the past few years. Criticizing the government as slowing down the nation's economic development is not fair at all."

Chang said that the government had worked hard to save on expenditures to bring down its annual budget.

Meanwhile, Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) said Taiwanese and South Koreans' income should not be compared by looking at absolute numbers alone.

"Their [South Korea's] currency exchange rate went up 25 percent over the past few years while ours remained steady. As a result, Taiwanese actually pocketed more than their South Korean counterparts," Hsu said.
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