The government currently has no plans of issuing a second round of consumer vouchers, but will look into the possibility when it conducts an overall assessment of the impact of the first round of consumer vouchers by September, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
The council said the government might not issue a new round of vouchers because of financial constraints, but added that if it did eventually return to the idea, a decision would not be made before the end of September, the deadline for the use of the first round of vouchers.
“If domestic business conditions rebound in the fall, the government won't need to issue consumer vouchers again,” the council said in a statement.
The council said it had commissioned an institute to carry out a survey of the shopping vouchers' overall effect on the local economy during the first quarter of this year. The results of the survey will be made public later this month and will serve as policy reference for the government.
In related news, Chunghwa Post Co said that 134,974 people, or 0.58 percent of qualified recipients, failed to pick up their consumer vouchers by the April 30 deadline.
A total of 99.42 percent of eligible participants picked up their vouchers in the two-stage distribution process — at designated pick-up points during the first stage and at post offices during the second stage — the state-run company said.
Less than NT$500 million (US$15 million) in consumer vouchers, out of a total of NT$83.75 billion, were not picked up.
The unclaimed vouchers will be sent back to the Ministry of the Interior, which will be responsible for destroying them after May 12, a Chunghwa Post executive said.
Ministry figures showed that as of Wednesday, nearly NT$67.4 billion, or 81 percent of the total vouchers issued, had been cashed in by businesses.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
Central and southern Taiwan are to see increasingly heavy rainfall from last night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system on Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around Japan's Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions. The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by this afternoon and reaching China's Zhejiang through the East China Sea tomorrow,
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