With the help of the Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program, Taiwan might have a chance to achieve 6 percent GDP growth this year, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, as he is betting on the vouchers to provide a “quick boost” to the economy.
“The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics is predicting economic growth of 5.88 percent for this year, but if the effects of the vouchers start kicking in during the fourth quarter, then that could push GDP growth above 6 percent,” Kung told reporters in Taipei.
The Executive Yuan plans to launch the Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program next month to reinvigorate the economy, which has been hit by a COVID-19 outbreak that started in the middle of May.
Photo courtesy of the National Development Council
“The Triple Stimulus Voucher program last year provided a marked boost to the local retail, food and beverage, and lodging sectors, meaning that it did the job of lighting the fire of consumption,” Kung said. “The Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program does not just increase the dollar amount, it is being met with enthusiasm by local governments, banks and stores, with the aim of helping consumers increase the value of their vouchers.”
It is those extra incentive programs that led Kung to predict a “doubling of benefits.”
“Optimistically, the effects on the economy could reach as high as NT$200 billion [US$7.21 million],” he said.
However, whether the program would take effect in time to affect this year’s GDP growth is still in question, he added.
“There’s still a lot of preparatory work to be done,” Kung said. “If we can bring it forward [for the Mid-Autumn Festival], then we will.”
If the program starts earlier than anticipated, its main effect will fall in the final quarter of this year. If it does not, the benefits will be seen in the first quarter of next year, he said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that the NT$500 bonus vouchers the Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to offer as part of the Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program would benefit the food and beverage sector, as they can only be spent at night markets, food stalls, bakeries and restaurants.
There would be 4 million bonus vouchers and they can only be claimed by those receiving their Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers digitally, Wang said.
When asked by Z Media’s (震傳媒) Frances Huang (黃光芹) about the objections of small vendors to the hassle and fees that come with receiving digital payments, Wang said the ministry would be subsidizing digital transaction fees for six months to incentivize them to go digital.
“We will be helping small vendors acclimatize to the change. In the long term, digital transactions are going to be more popular in the post-pandemic economy,” she said.
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