The Cabinet yesterday approved a forecast of 3.8 percent GDP growth next year, with Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Minister Yiing Chii-ming (尹啟銘) saying that the figure was “no exaggeration.”
When the council revealed the forecast last week, Yiing promised to give up his year-end bonus if the target was not reached next year.
Under the development plan for next year approved by the Cabinet, the council projected an unemployment rate below 4.1 percent and consumer price index of no more than 2 percent.
At a press conference yesterday, Yiin said that the forecast was determined based on cautious assessments of supply and demand factors and views offered by officials at the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics and at the central bank, as well as academics.
“The 3.8 percent GDP growth target is not unreachable, and it’s not just me saying so,” Yiin said, citing as references the World Bank ‘s prediction of 4 percent GDP growth in Taiwan next year, the Asia Development Bank’s 3.8 percent and the IMF’s 3.9 percent.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) has estimated that the nation will see 3.88 percent GDP growth next year, while Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶來研究院) forecast the GDP would expand 3.85 percent, Yiin said.
The council predicted that between next year and 2016, the average economic growth rate will be 4.5 percent annually, the consumer price index will be kept under 2 percent and the unemployment rate will be reduced to below 3.9 percent by 2016.
Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said that the forecast was challenging and reflected the Cabinet’s ambition and determination to deliver economic recovery.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS