Tue, Nov 19, 2002 page1

• Chen promises to cut unemployment

  ECONOMY The president said that reducing joblessness would be one of the Cabinet's main targets in a renewed attempt to turn around the country's flagging economy

  • By Lin Chieh-Yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday set the Cabinet the goal of reducing unemployment from 5.32 percent to 4.5 percent within a year as part of a raft of measures to revive the country's economy.

  "To solve the jobless problem caused by the global economic recession and the rising number of cases where Taiwanese businessmen are closing their factories and moving to China, I have asked the Executive Yuan to reduce the unemployment rate to less than 4.5 percent before the end of next year," Chen said at a National Security Council meeting of high-ranking economic and financial officials yesterday.

  At the meeting's conclusion, the president announced a 10-point framework for the government to deal with the country's economic problems.

  "The Cabinet's Council of Economic Planning and Development has proposed a project to create job opportunities by expanding public services, and other departments of the Cabinet will plan more infrastructure projects to boost employment," Chen said.

  "I hope that these projects can be all implemented actively," the president said. "The key things now are to pass a new law for retired workers' subsidies and to amend the Labor Standards Law to make it more flexible."

  The president promised that the DPP government would allocate NT$1.2 trillion each year over the next five years for domestic investment projects.

  "The government should help stabilize economic development by expanding public infrastructure," Chen said. "We hope that the Legislative Yuan can amend the Public Debt Law (公共債務法) to exclude financing public infrastructure from the definition of government debt."

  He said that foreign exchange reserves had risen for 14 consecutive years and that this year's balance of payments surplus was expected to exceed US$40 billion, indicating that Taiwan's economy remained strong.

  Chen added that the government will maintain its policy of trying to attract foreign investment, including offering three-year tax holidays and lower tariffs to foreign investors that use utilize public land.

  To counter the lack of confidence in the economy, Chen said that the government needed to assist in the realization of important private investments.

  "The Cabinet's financial department should also review the policy of setting limits on the movement of foreign capital ... especially in the transportation, electricity, financial, postal and telecommunications sectors," he said.

  He said that the government should also endeavor to attract multinational corporations to establish their headquarters in Taiwan.

  "To effectively achieve the government's economic strategy of `keeping roots in Taiwan,' the government's tax incentives have borne some fruit, with some enterprises or industry groups that have invested in China now also establishing their research departments and headquarters in Taiwan," Chen said.

  The Executive Yuan will also organize large-scale events to attract international investors in the first half of next year.
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