At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Lai Ching-te said the administration's efforts to push economic transformation and enhance the investment climate have produced solid results, including improvements in corporate profits and strong performances by the economy.
Following a National Development Council briefing on 2018 economic trends, the premier said Taiwan over the past two years has climbed out of its economic doldrums, with the economy growing 3.16 percent during the first half of 2018 and topping 3 percent growth in each of the past four quarters.
The unemployment rate also averaged 3.66 percent for the first half of the year, the lowest first-half figure in 18 years. Product exports have registered double-digit growth for seven quarters in a row, while the Taiwan Stock Market has remained above 10,000 points for more than 14 months.
To counteract unknown risks in the external environment, the government will focus on domestic demand as the main driver of growth for the second half of 2018, Premier Lai continued. He instructed government agencies to pull out all the stops in promoting such policies as public infrastructure, the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the "five plus two" innovative industries, energy transformation, reconstruction of aging and unsafe buildings, urban renewal, the long-term care 2.0 plan and child care subsidies. Agencies should also continue pushing the work of deregulation and investment barrier removal as discussed in the Executive Yuan's interministerial investment meetings.