Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) Taiwan should further accelerate its industrial upgrading by increasing investment in research and development, and in its invention and innovation programs, an official of the National Development Council (NDC) said Tuesday.

Commenting on the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook released that day, in which the IMF adjusted upward its forecast for Taiwan's economic growth to 2 percent this year, from 1.7 percent estimated in April, NDC Deputy Minister Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮) said that Taiwan's economic structure remains solid and he attributed the nation's improved economic performance mainly to global economic recovery which, he said, led to Taiwan's export increase.

He warned, however, that IMF has issued an alert for Taiwan by lowering its forecast for the nation's economic growth to 2.2 percent in 2022, from 2.5 percent it predicted in April.

Taiwan's economic development has encountered a bottle neck as its industrial structure has not transformed successfully, Chiou pointed out, adding that the transformation process is difficult. "The resources should be redistributed to software development instead of focusing on the hardware manufacturing sector," he said.

If the industrial development policies adopted by the government in recent years can be implemented smoothly, Taiwan's economic growth will beat what the IMF forecast for 2022, when the nation's industrial transformation programs will have produced results, Chiou noted. 

(By Chen Cheng-wei and Romulo Huang) 
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