Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's economy is moving toward an apex, President Chen Shui-bian jubilantly claimed Friday.
Opening the 2004 International Audio Video Taipei, the president said all economic indices indicate that the country's economy is turning upward, and the trade volume of real property setting a record high for three consecutive months before October and posting a growth of 74.4 percent in that month against the corresponding month of last year.
New houses will need new audio and video equipment, and the benefit of the booming real estate market will trickle down to firms at this show, the president predicted.
He said the country's economy is transforming drastically, and is becoming more powerful.
Citing the country's competitiveness as a example, the president said Taiwan ranks fifth in the world in a 2002 survey by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, and ranks sixth this year in a survey conducted by the Lausanne-based International Institute for Management Development. Both are the country's highest position this decade.
In a related development Friday, the president said he is confident that the country's economic growth will reach 5 percent, although some foreign analysts predict a 6 percent growth.