Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that Taiwan's economy has bottomed out of a three-year recession and is back on its normal track of steady rise.
Addressing a meeting of the presidential economic advisory panel, Chen said Taiwan's economic recovery has become ever stronger and faster thanks to a worldwide economic upswing.
Quoting official tallies, Chen said export orders received by local manufacturers reached an all-time high of US$16.14 billion in October, marking a 19.94 percent rise from the year-earlier level.
Moreover, he went on, the unemployment rate declined to 4.92 percent in October, lower than America's 4.92 percent, Japan's 5.1 percent, Singapore's 5.9 percent and Hong Kong's 8 percent. "The improvement indicates that the government's efforts to rein in joblessness has paid off," he added.
With public and private investment expected to increase significantly next year, Chen said, the domestic economy will grow even faster in the coming year. As a result, he said, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics has adjusted upward its forecast for the nation's economic growth rate to 4.1 percent for 2004 from this year's 3.15 percent. If the current trends continue, Chen said, the growth rate might be even higher next year.
He also defended his administration's new NT$500 billion infrastructure construction plan, saying that the spending plan is designed to upgrade Taiwan's competitiveness and will not burden "future generations" as has been claimed by opposition parties.
Noting that the 10 new major construction projects are necessary to update Taiwan's hardware and software infrastructure, Chen said he hopes the opposition will support the special budget bill to facilitate implementation of these ambitious projects.