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TAIPEI: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday his government would aim for six per cent growth in four years, days after he was quoted saying that target would be deferred to 2016 due to the global slowdown.
"We will try our best to achieve the goal of six per cent growth in four years," Ma told reporters.
The president said the government had also set a goal to bring down the jobless rate to below three per cent in four years.
He said the island's economy remained sound compared with the global economic conditions. "We have confidence to reach these goals," Ma said.
Ma was quoted Wednesday in an interview with a foreign newspaper as saying the six per cent growth goal would be deferred to 2016 from 2012 amid the global economic slowdown.
The interview has sparked massive criticism and irked the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Ma, of the Kuomintang, swept to a landslide victory in March largely on pledges to improve the island's sluggish economy, vowing to achieve six per cent annual economic growth, without a timeframe.
But Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said later he would step down if he failed in four years to achieve targets of six per cent economic growth and keep inflation below three per cent.
Ma said he had been misquoted and apologised for failing to make himself clear in the interview.
"What I meant (in the interview) was Taiwan has targeted to boost its per capita GNP to US$30,000 in eight years, while the six per cent GDP growth and the three per cent unemployment rate are expected in four years," Ma said.
Last month, the government cut its forecast of gross domestic product growth for 2008 to 4.30 per cent from 4.78 per cent estimated in May, saying consumption had been hurt by rising inflation.
In July, the island's jobless rate rose to 4.06 per cent from 3.95 per cent in June.
Taiwan's per capita GNP for 2008 is estimated at US$18,883, up from US$17,252 last year.
- AFP/yb
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