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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Economic policy is on the right track, Premier Lai says
Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, reporting on Premier William Lai’s remarks that key economic indicators are showing positive trends. Photo: CNA
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Key economic indicators are showing positive trends, including better-than-expected GDP growth and a record-setting stock market performance, which means the government is on the right track, Premier William Lai （賴清德） said at a Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Economic growth last year was 2.6 percent, up from 1.5 percent in 2016.
Taiwan’s benchmark index, which has stayed above 10,000 points for months, on Tuesday closed at 11,253 points, the highest level in almost 28 years, Lai said.
Companies traded on the TAIEX had a combined annual revenue of NT$32.7 trillion （US$1.12 trillion） last year, the highest in Taiwan’s history.
The unemployment rate last year was 3.76 percent, the lowest in nearly 17 years, Lai said.
“It shows that President Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） national development policies are the right design,” Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung （徐國勇） quoted Lai as saying.
The nation’s export orders last year increased by 11 percent from a year earlier to a record-high US$492.8 billion, and the total value of exports last year was US$317.4 billion, the nation’s second-highest figure since record keeping began.
“The numbers indicate that the economy has improved. The better companies are able to receive orders, the more stable employment is,” Lai said.
The next challenge is wage stagnation and improvements to social security, he said.
Meanwhile, to improve Taiwan’s competitiveness in recruiting foreign professionals, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is to upgrade its job-matching Web site, Contact Taiwan, which is designed as an e-recruitment solution for public and private-sector firms to hire overseas jobseekers.
The Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals （外國專業人才延攬及僱用法）, which was approved in October last year and is to take effect on Feb. 8, would ease restrictions on residency, work permits, taxation and a pension benefit for foreigners.
The act would extend the maximum periods of work permits and Alien Resident Certificates from three to five years, and unemployed foreigners would be allowed to stay in Taiwan for up to six months looking for new employment.
Eleven new laws associated with the act are to be launched by March 15, and Lai ordered the Cabinet to expedite the legislative and enforcement process.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
