Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) yesterday announced a draw to encourage people to claim their Triple Stimulus Vouchers digitally.
The prizes include movie tickets and 25 electric scooters donated by Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), Wang said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that it would hold a scooter draw every day for the next 10 days, beginning yesterday, after which there would be a draw every week for 15 weeks.
Photo: CNA
The first winner was a Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) credit card user, the ministry said.
The benefits of claiming the vouchers digitally extend beyond the draws, with many businesses offering special deals for people who use digital vouchers, Wang told a news conference in Taipei.
Gogoro chief executive officer Horace Luke (陸學森) said that his company was glad to donate the scooters in support of the stimulus program.
“Gogoro scooters are designed and made in Taiwan,” Luke told the news conference. “They are the perfect complement to a program designed to stimulate the Taiwanese economy.”
The scooters up for grabs have a suggested retail price of NT$54,980 (US$1,860.51) each.
The first phase for pre-ordering stimulus vouchers is being extended to July 12, the ministry announced later yesterday.
The ministry originally announced that the pre-ordering of the paper versions of the vouchers could be done in two stages: from July 1 to 7 and from Aug. 1 to 7.
Vouchers ordered from July 1 to 7 or July 8 to 12 can be claimed at designated convenience stores from July 15 to 31 and July 22 to 31, respectively.
Those who order the vouchers from Aug. 1 to 7 can pick them up at convenience stores from Aug. 15 to 31.
The government is launching the Triple Stimulus Voucher program to stimulate the economy amid an economic slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, most people have claimed the vouchers at post offices or convenience stores, with only 20 percent claiming them digitally, Wang said.
People can purchase NT$3,000 of vouchers for NT$1,000, and aid is available for low-income households. The NT$50 billion program is not open to foreign residents unless they have a Taiwanese spouse.
In the past few days, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) have touted the convenience of buying the vouchers at convenience stores.
Wang said that while paper vouchers offer more security, digital vouchers are more convenient and are suitable for younger, tech-savvy consumers.
Details on how to obtain the digital vouchers can be found at 3000.gov.tw, the ministry said.
Asked about the possibility of there being more government stimulus measures, Wang said that there would be news soon.
“We still have to evaluate our budget, the use rates of the current program and other factors, but it will not take too long,” she said.
Although Taiwan has largely been spared the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused great economic repercussions elsewhere in the world, the nation’s export-dependent economy was still affected by the global slowdown in consumption, Wang said.
“Unfortunately, it looks like the virus really never went away in many countries and will remain with us through the fall,” she said. “However, economies are reopening and we look forward to gradual gains.”
Additional reporting by CNA
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