President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文, front, center)

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) touted on Sunday economic upturn, lower unemployment rate, and rise in stock exchange index since she took office as evidence that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is more capable of growing the economy than the Kuomintang (KMT).

"The KMT has attacked us (the government) for economic sluggishness. Is the economy picking up? Everyone can look at the numbers. Numbers talk," Tsai said when addressing DPP supporters at a campaign rally in Kaohsiung.

On the performance of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, Tsai said that Taiwan has seen continued growth of above three percent for four consecutive quarters, compared to an annual 0.8 percent before she came to office in May 2016. Taiwan's economy grew 0.85 percent in 2015.

In terms of GDP growth, Tsai said that Taiwan has surpassed South Korea. "We are not in the last place among the four little dragons."

The DGBAS' data showed that the growth rate in the last fourth quarters since the third quarter last year was 3.10 percent, 3.28 percent, 3.04 percent, and 3.29 percent.

Tsai said that the unemployment rate for 2017 averaged 3.76 percent, a record low in 17 years, and it further went down to 3.69 percent for the first half of this year.

When the KMT was in power, it promised to push Taiwan's stock market benchmark to above 20,000 points, which it had failed to deliver, Tsai said.

"After the DPP came in, as the economy continued to grow steadily, the stock market's benchmark index has risen over 10,000 points for more than a year," she added.

"If someone told you that the KMT is better than the DPP at running the economy, you have to ask: 'Are you good at math?'" Tsai said.

(By Lu Hsin-hui and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
Enditem/sc