Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd chairman Stephen Roach yesterday met Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) and several government officials and expressed his confidence in the economy, Minister Without Portfolio Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬) said yesterday.
“[Roach] said Morgan Stanley is optimistic about Taiwan’s economic prospects. Its long-term investment in Taiwan has reached US$1 billion and its investment in the country will continue based on its confidence in the new government’s economic policies,” Chu said.
Roach and Morgan Stanley Financial Institutions Group managing director Willard McLane gave a speech on global and local economic assessment to Cabinet economic officials at the invitation of Chiu.
In addition to Chu and Chiu, Financial Supervisory Commission Vice chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠), central bank Deputy Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍), Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) and others attended.
Chu quoted the Morgan Stanley speakers as saying after the closed-door talk that Taiwan’s macroeconomic performance rivaled other Asian countries in terms of economic growth rate and price stabilization.
Chu quoted the pair as saying that Morgan Stanley was especially interested in the financial and real estate sectors, the technology industry, the wealth management sector, consumer goods industries and the government’s infrastructure plan.
Roach said the government’s proposal to invest NT$16 billion (US$3.8 billion) in expanding domestic demand was a good approach to boost the economy, Lee said.
Lee said foreign investors had praised the central bank for taking the initiative to make public details of its investment in the two troubled US mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on Tuesday.
Foreign investors felt the central bank responded to the crisis in a quick and transparent manner that reflected the strengths of the country’s finance sector, Lee said.
Earlier yesterday, during a separate meeting with Roach and other senior members of the New York-based investment bank, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said his administration wanted to develop the nation’s finance sector, open the domestic market and deregulate financial policies.
Roach said these were “very challenging times” and that the finance sector was struggling around the globe after 11 months of turmoil that began with the subprime crisis in the US.
“The challenge here is that economies around the world ... have become very dependent on the markets” that are experiencing problems, he said. “It is wrong to think of this as just a problem with the market. It is a problem that also impacts the global economy.”
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