In spite of lower-than-expected growth in the first quarter, the government has no plan to reverse the increases in the minimum wage made at the beginning of last month, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday.
“We won’t change the stated policy that has raised the minimum wage” even after the first-quarter GDP data is finalized this month, Jiang said.
He decided on April 2 to increase the minimum wage by 1.42 percent, from NT$18,780 to NT$19,047 effective April 1, after confirming with the Directorate-Generate of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) that first-quarter GDP growth had exceeded 3 percent.
A GDP growth of more than 3 percent for two quarters in a row or an unemployment rate of less than 4 percent for two consecutive months were the conditions set by the Cabinet to increase the monthly minimum wage.
GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year was 3.72 percent.
The DGBAS yesterday said the advance estimate of first-quarter GDP could be lower than the estimate of 3.26 percent made in February, falling to 1.54 percent because of weak exports.
Jiang said other countries such as Singapore and South Korea had also revised their first-quarter GDP forecasts downwards.
That meant that the European debt crisis was still hurting the world economy, he said.
The adjustment came because exports were not as good as expected and domestic private consumption contributed less to economic growth than expected, Jiang said.
However, the Executive Yuan had decided to maintain the wage increase to “reward” workers who have contributed so much to the country for years, he said.
Other economic indicators have showed signs of recovery, he said, such as the latest consumer confidence index, which increased 1.28 points to 77.29 last month, from 76.01 in March. That showed that most people in Taiwan had a positive outlook on the economy.
The 17 percent rebound in imports of capital equipment in the first quarter and exports in March that hit a 20-month high were also positive signs, he said.
Those figures showed that the economy is turning around, Jiang said, adding the public should have confidence to keep the momentum in domestic consumption going.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
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