The government will focus on three priorities next year in order to realize its economic growth target, with stimulating domestic demand topping the list, an official with the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.
Also high on the work agenda are stepping up research and development as well as boosting employment and narrowing the wealth gap and urban-rural divide, the official said.
He made the remarks after CEPD commissioners passed the country's economic development plan for next year one day earlier than scheduled. The plan set an economic growth target of 4.6 percent, a GDP of US$16,886, the unemployment rate at 3.9 percent and inflation below 2 percent.
According to the official, the US economy is expected to slow down next year, which could have a negative effect on Taiwan's export growth. This is why Taiwan should spur domestic demand to bolster its continued economic expansion, the official said.
To realize this goal, he said, the government will continue expanding public investment, accelerating relaxation of regulations governing the service industry, fine-tuning the domestic investment environment and stimulating the financial sector.
"Through all these measures, we expect to see a 3 percent growth in private consumption in real terms in 2007," the official said.
With gross fixed capital formation expected to maintain the traditional level of approximately 20 percent of GDP, the official said, domestic demand will be able to contribute to more than 60 percent of next year's economic growth.
On R&D promotion, he said, the government's budget for next year for scientific and technological development will increase 10.8 percent from this year's level -- higher than the average 7.9 percent growth posted in the past three years.
"We hope our R&D investment will spawn a cluster effect by attracting more high-tech companies to invest in Taiwan as well as enhance our labor productivity and expand value-added output," the official said.
While pursuing economic growth, the official said, the government will not overlook the importance of achieving balanced development.
"Equal emphasis will be given on creating jobs so that local citizens can make a living," the official said, adding that the government's target is to keep the unemployment rate below 4 percent throughout next year.
The official added that the government will continue working to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor as well as bridge the divide between urban and rural regions.
"Our target is to pull the wealth gap between the richest 20 percent and the 20 percent down to below six-fold," the official said.
Next year will be the first year of the first three-year stage of a long-term national development plan valid until 2015, which is aimed at increasing investment in Taiwan, creating jobs, narrowing the wealth gap and balancing development in metropolitan areas and the countryside.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS