Taiwan to cut 5,000 import tariffs

Agence France-Presse, Taipe

Taiwan's parliament has approved import tariff cuts on some 5,000 items ahead of the island's entry to the World Trade Organization, parliament officials said Wednesday.

Under the approved revision of the statute of import tariffs, custom duties on more than 5,000 products would be reduced lowering the average tariff rate from 8.20 percent to 7.08 percent in the first year of Taiwan's WTO admission, the officials said.

The cuts were expected to reduce the government's tax revenues by NT$5.11 billion (US$148 million) in the first year, they said.

Taiwan is expected to become a WTO member in March.

Meanwhile, Taiwan consumers would be able to enjoy cheaper imported goods from other WTO member economies and local industries would benefit from lower import costs, they added.

Under the revision, average tariffs on farm products and industrial goods would be slashed to 14.01 percent and 5.78 percent, down from current 20.02 percent and 6.03 percent respectively, in the first year of Taiwan's WTO entry.

Average import duties on the items would eventually be lowered to 12.86 percent and 4.15 percent respectively by 2004.

To cushion the impact of the tariff reductions on the farming sector, expected to be hit hardest, authorities would draw a budget of NT$100 billion every year to offer subsidies and help farmers seek other jobs, the China Times cited cabinet secretary- general Chiou I-jen as saying.

Some 27,500 farmers may lose their jobs after Taiwan's WTO admission, the paper said.