Report: Taiwan to offer consumer spending incentive

LONDON – Throughout the first quarter of 2012 the Taiwan government plans to provide its citizens with subsidies for the replacement of old air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines, according to a Taiwan Economic News report.

The government will provide NT$2,000 (about $66) for each old item replaced with an energy-saving model, the report said.

The program is intended to help Taiwan cope with knock-on effects from the European debt crisis in 2012 and bolster the local economy. The subsidy only applies to the purchase of Taiwan-made products for the replacement of old machines.

The plan is expected to have a triple benefit; saving national energy consumption, stimulating the local economy and stimulating the local development of consumer goods, the report quoted Jerry Ou, director general of the Bureau of Energy, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), as saying.

The program has a total budget of NT$600 million ($20 million) but it is expected to prompt the purchase of 300,000 Taiwan made units and NT$7.9 billion (about $260 million) of consumption, the report said.

LCD TV could be the subject of another subsidy later in 2012 timed to coincide with the introduction of digital TV broadcasts in Taiwan in July, the report added.

Similar spending incentives were provided for the automobile trade-ins in several countries in response to the global economic crisis of 2008-2009.

Air conditioners and refrigerators account for 45 and 11 percent of domestic power consumption, respectively, the report said.


Report: Taiwan to offer consumer spending incentive