A stimulus voucher program and coupon packages introduced by the Executive Yuan and other government agencies to bolster the economy have nearly tripled business revenue, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Ministry officials presented the figures in a report to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at a weekly meeting of the Executive Yuan.
Su was told that the NT$65.055 billion (US$2.25 billion) spent for the Executive Yuan to issue the Triple Stimulus Vouchers and for agencies to issue coupons generated an estimated NT$179 billion in business revenue, boosting the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: David Chang, EPA-EFE
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Council of Agriculture, the Sports Administration, the Ministry of Culture and the Hakka Affairs Council issued their own coupons.
To boost consumer spending, people were encouraged to buy NT$3,000 of vouchers for NT$1,000.
Regardless of age or income level, all 23 million Taiwanese, as well as 150,000 foreign and Chinese spouses holding residency permits, were eligible to purchase paper or electronic vouchers.
As of Tuesday, 22.89 million people had bought the vouchers, or 96 percent of those eligible, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration Director-General Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) told reporters after the meeting.
About 21.09 million people selected the paper stimulus vouchers, while 1.8 million chose electronic vouchers, with only 910,000 people still needing to collect their stimulus vouchers, Ho said.
The buying spree triggered by the vouchers has been reflected in business revenue and government tax income, as seen by the growth in July retail sales, ending a five-month contraction, he said.
Taiwan’s retail sales in August and last month set historical single-month highs, as did the restaurant and beverage sector last month, Ho added.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SUPPLY RESILIENCE: The extra expense would be worth it, as the US firm is diversifying chip sourcing to avert disruptions similar to the one during the pandemic, the CEO said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) on Wednesday said that the chips her company gets from supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would cost more when they are produced in TSMC’s Arizona facilities. Compared with similar parts from factories in Taiwan, the US chips would be “more than 5 percent, but less than 20 percent” in terms of higher costs, she said at an artificial intelligence (AI) event in Washington. AMD expects its first chips from TSMC’s Arizona facilities by the end of the year, Su said. The extra expense is worth it, because the company is
RSS