The government will take further action to deal with the slowing domestic economy, including providing assistance to the LED sector and making efforts to expand exports to emerging markets, Executive Yuan officials said yesterday.
To help the export-reliant economy cope with sluggish demand in Europe and the US, the Cabinet approved a plan yesterday that was proposed by the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
Under the initiative, the government would focus on stabilizing the financial sector and consumer prices, increasing employment, seeking more local and foreign investment, boosting domestic consumption and pushing for more exports, Vice Premier Sean Chen said.
Chen added that the government would carry out a project to install 320,000 LED streetlights around the country — representing a coverage rate of 20 percent in each city and county in Taiwan.
The LED sector is one of the high-tech industries in Taiwan that has been most badly affected by the global economic slump.
This new initiative would “help the ‘green’ energy industry” and also “contribute to energy saving and carbon emission reductions,” Chen said at a media briefing after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting.
Council for -Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) said the package was drawn up over five months of intense deliberation.
Liu added that the government would also divert exports to newly emerging markets, such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Brazil and Peru, to mitigate the impacts of the slowdown in US and EU markets.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠) said at a separate setting that the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) had decided to invest nearly NT$9 billion (US$299 million) to boost domestic consumption and exports as the economy was slowing down.
The MOEA also organized two missions to Japan that signed 25 memorandums of understanding, which are expected to generate NT$200 million worth of investment projects, he said.
One of the measures to boost the domestic market is to subsidize consumers who buy energy-efficient air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators in the first three months of next year.
The ministry has set aside NT$600 million for that purpose.
A subsidy of NT$2,000 per person will be available for the purchase of 300,000 new air conditioners and the two other types of home appliances.
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