The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) plans to launch an online communication platform later this month that would allow the public to make recommendations for galvanizing the nation’s economy.
The platform would be reachable from the home page of the council’s Web site in the second half of this month and is meant to help the agency gather public opinion on national economic policies, CEPD Chairman Chen Tian-jy (陳添枝) said yesterday.
“People will be able to air their views on the easing of regulations, and the council will post information about the progress of the liberalization,” Chen said in a statement.
The CEPD, which is responsible for drawing up plans for national economic development as well as coordinating and evaluating their implementation, will be open to criticism, the council said.
Chen said the council was seeking to remove legal barriers that were preventing the country from linking up with the rest of the world, and would give top priority to easing rules that restrict the free flow of talent and capital.
Analysts said that the new platform was unlikely to provide a remedy for the council’s less than effective communication and coordination skills.
Day Jaw-yang (戴肇洋), a research fellow at the Taiwan Research Institute (台綜院), said having the premier or a Cabinet minister doubling as CEPD head would make the council more effective.
While Chen is a prominent academic, he has no prior experience in coordinating government policies and his inter-ministerial communication skills have proven to be inadequate, Day said.
“The nation needs a higher-ranking CEPD chief to coordinate and integrate economic policies given the tough nature of the challenges at home and abroad,” Day said by phone. “Chen, an academic, seems unable to fathom the real needs of the public.”
Thomas Lee (李桐豪), professor of the Money and Banking Department at National Chengchi University, said he believed the government should make an all-out effort to contain inflation rather than expand domestic demand, as the economic stimulus package, which is intended to raise GDP growth by 0.5 percent, is bound to push consumer prices even higher.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government appeared incapable of horizontal communication 50 days after it took office, and the CEPD could not evade its share of the blame, Lee said.
“The planned online platform will serve as little more than a punching bag,” Lee said by phone. “The CEPD cannot count on it for sound legal advice.”
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