News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 26 Mar 2008

Economic growth to hit 6% in 3 years: researcher (Taiwan)

Taiwan should be able to see a 6 percent economic growth in the third or fourth year of President-elect Ma Ying-jeou's four-year term in office, if Ma realizes his campaign promises to boost domestic demand, a local researcher said yesterday. 

Ma promised to raise the average economic growth rate to 6 percent if elected, which means that one out of Ma's four-year terms must hit 7 percent because this year's growth rate is predicted to register at 4.35 percent, said Liang Kuo-yuan, president of Taipei-based Polaris Research Institute.
 
Liang said at a press conference on Taiwan's economic outlook that although 7 percent is a difficult target, it is still achievable if Ma can improve cross strait relations and revitalize the economy.

During the election,Ma vowed to implement 12 massive construction projects, which he said would increase domestic demand and people's income.

Forecasting on this year's economy, Liang said that the slowing economies of major countries will hurt Taiwan's exports, but rising consumer spending and confidence would create more local demand, which he said would offset slowing exports.

According to Liang, this year's consumer spending rate could be 3.55 percent and thus his institute adjusted upward this year's economic growth rate forecast to 4.35 percent.

In addition, Liang speculated that the Taiwan dollar will continue to appreciate against its U.S. counterpart, and predicted that the average exchange rate this year would jump to NT$30.