A government plan to issue travel-based “stimulus coupons” to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak could benefit up to 350,000 local businesses, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday.
Shen introduced the scheme at the Legislative Yuan as part of a NT$2 billion (US$66.6 million) stimulus plan from the Executive Yuan’s NT$60 billion special budget bill.
The Cabinet on Thursday last week approved the bill to finance strategies to combat the spread of COVID-19, which has infected 42 people in Taiwan, with one death, and help local industrial and commercial sectors hit hardest by the outbreak.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
In the initial stage, about NT$600 to NT$800 worth of stimulus coupons would be issued in both paper and electronic forms, Shen said.
More than 140,000 restaurants and diners, 280,000 businesses in shopping centers, 10,000 night market vendors, and 1,700 arts and culture venues are expected to accept the coupons, he said, citing data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
After adjusting for double counting, the coupons could be used at about 350,000 businesses once they are issued, Shen said.
Photo: CNA
Under the ministry’s plan, the coupons would be tied to domestic travel, and issued in four categories: food and drink, night markets, shopping centers, and arts and culture.
However, it has not decided how to distribute the coupons, whether they should only be given to Taiwanese or also to foreign travelers, or how they would be used, it said.
Asked if the coupons would be issued prior to the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday from April 2 to April 5 to boost consumption during the spring break, as some people have suggested, Shen said that it was unlikely.
He said that the coupons would likely be issued between six and 12 months after the spread of COVID-19 slows down, to help hard-hit small and medium-sized businesses.
“With the outbreak still continuing, we should concentrate on outbreak prevention and control,” Shen said.
The ministry also plans to use more than NT$20.4 billion in the special budget bill to provide subsidies and loans to businesses most affected by the outbreak and to boost domestic demand, which is flagging due to the drop in the number of foreign visitors.
The budget would also be used to build new mask production lines, buy masks from local manufacturers and help export them overseas when that becomes possible.
The Legislative Yuan is reviewing the special budget.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS