The Taiwanese government should take “bolder” and “swifter” action to address a likely economic recession, European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) executives said yesterday during the release of the 2008-2009 position paper titled Steering Out of the Storm.
The chamber lauded the government’s recent stimulus measures, including a consumer voucher scheme, but hoped for stronger measures, including tax rebates and tax cuts, to boost the local economy.
“US experience showed that the voucher scheme will be short-lived,” ECCT chairman Philippe Pellegrin told a media briefing yesterday. “They are good [for three months] and helping [sic], but not sufficient.”
The chamber said the slowdown in the domestic economy had taken its toll on European imports, with automobiles seeing a 30 percent year-on-year decline in the first nine months of this year.
“If going further down in 2009, it will be a test [for Taiwan-based European businesses],” said Helmut Bolt, chief representative of ThyssenKrupp, the AG Representative Office in Taiwan.
Despite a weaker outlook for next year, European businesses in Taiwan remained confident in the local economy, as long as the government prioritized the implementation of cross-strait trade normalization so that businesses can soon benefit from markets in China, one of the two economic engines in the Asia-Pacific market, the ECCT said.
The paper contained 174 recommendations.
The chamber urged the government to address deregulation in the area of cross-strait normalization, the business visa process for Chinese nationals to help the development of the meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibition (MICE) industries, Pellegrin said.
The chamber reaffirmed its recommendation that Taiwan cut financial red tape, conform to international standards and create a competitive tax environment, “or else talent may leave Taiwan for Hong Kong, Singapore or [South] Korea,” Pellegrin said.
The chamber also recognized the nation’s potential to become a global leader in green technology.
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