Improved economy boosts public confidence: Ma

Ma noted that the situation in March appeared better than in February, which was evident from the influx of unanticipated orders and the decrease in the number of furloughed staff in some businesses.

"The hard times are not expected to be over in the first half of this year, but we can see that public confidence has grown, " Ma said while receiving a group of representatives of the Junior Chamber International Taiwan.

The president pointed out that in a bid to stimulate the economy, the government is promoting a series of measures to try to expand public construction and it hopes that a special NT$500 billion(US$15.1 billion) four-year budget plan for this purpose could be finalized this week.

More than NT$150 billion of the special budget would be earmarked for 2009, which would bring to NT$600 billion the total funding for public construction for the year, including items covered by the annual budget, Ma said.

He promised that the government will plan each public construction project very carefully and make sure there is no waste of resources.

Looking ahead, he said, the government is fully confident in Taiwan's future and looks forward to seeing Taiwan playing a more important role in the global economic landscape after the financial crisis is over.

He again called attention to the fact that Taiwan has the world's fourth largest foreign exchange reserves, amounting to US$300 billion, and one of the world's highest personal savings rate, at 30 percent, which he said is an indication of the strong purchasing power and investment potential of the Taiwan people.

Ma also expressed confidence in the country's small- and medium-sized businesses, many of which have seized a significant share of the world markets despite their size.

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