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One of the top stories from this past week was the story involving the nation’s faltering stock market.
The chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) William Tseng said that there was no need to call on the National Stabilization Fund to intervene in the stock market. He was speaking Wednesday, shortly after the Taipei Stock Exchange closed at 8021 points, a 23-month low for Taipei’s stock market.
Tseng said that poor economic fundamentals, a downward revision of Taiwan’s annual GDP growth forecast and a pessimistic outlook for the third quarter were among the reasons for the market’s poor performance.
Tseng said that investor confidence will be shaken if the market falls below the 8000-point mark. He said that because of this, the FSC is assessing the state of the global economy, financial factors, and fluctuations in stock prices and trading volume on Taipei’s stock exchange. According to Tseng, the FSC will use its findings to determine a course of action.
However, Tseng ruled out the possibility of calling on the National Stabilization Fund (NSF) to intervene in the stock market.
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Also this past week, Taiwan’s Cabinet decided to forgo a pay raise for civil servants next year. Cabinet Spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said Monday that a pay raise had been on the table, but after analysis of the economic situation, the plan was shelved.
Last week, Taiwan’s government statistics office made a sizeable downward adjustment in its projection for Taiwan’s economic growth this year. Back in May, the statistics office was projecting 3.28% growth, but it has since reduced that figure to just 1.56% growth for this year. The office has also projected less-than-stellar economic growth in Taiwan next year – just 2.70%.
Sun said that after reviewing the data, the Cabinet decided not to allocate pay raises for civil servants in next year’s budget.
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And finally this past week, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je says his visit to Shanghai achieved the goal of promoting Taipei-Shanghai exchanges.
Ko spent Wednesday visiting sites including the Four Banks Anti-Japanese War Memorial. Ko that he wanted to visit the monument, which he had read about as a student, because this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.
Ko also said Wednesday that he did not feel slighted about being unable to meet with high-ranking Chinese officials. Ko said he is satisfied at having achieved his goal of promoting inter-city exchanges.