“Taiwan will let insurers invest in infrastructure projects and create a NT$1 billion ($33 million) fund to channel money to companies as President Ma Ying-jeou bids to boost growth and revive his flagging popularity.
The island also plans to revise capital-gains tax rules, give cash incentives to trade in old cars for new ones, simplify visa procedures for Chinese visitors and set aside NT$400 million to subsidize energy-saving home appliances including gas stoves and heaters, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said in Taipei today.
Ma, whose disapproval rating of 70 percent this month is at its highest since he took office in May 2008, joins policy makers from Australia to South Korea in moving to aid their economies as the global recovery falters. The island’s statistics bureau last week cut its forecast for gross domestic product growth this year to 2.4 percent from 3.59 percent.
“President Ma is under pressure to deliver some solutions after economic growth slowed in the first quarter,” said Yang Tai-Shuenn, a political scientist at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. “But I don’t think this would help lift his approval rating or bring real benefits to the economy.”
The Taiwan dollar rose 0.2 percent to NT$29.914 as of 3 p.m. local time. The benchmark Taiexstock index fell 0.2 percent at the close today.
Proposed revisions to capital-gains tax rules include removing the condition that investors will be taxed when the stock index closes at 8,500 points or higher, and reducing the tax rate on investors with NT$1 billion or more in trading volume to 0.1 percent from 2.25 percent. The measures are awaiting legislative approval, and may be passed in the current session without further delays, Jiang said.
