The President Tsai Ing-wen administration's new workweek policy kicked off last December and quickly garnered criticism of it leading to rising product prices. Businesses claimed they were seeking to raise prices to counteract rising personnel costs. When commenting on the new workweek policy's impact during the press conference that released the newest report for February, TIER said the public should not view rising prices as a product of the new workweek policy, citing rising commodity prices worldwide. Sun said that aside from Taiwan, no other country was burdened with implementing a new workweek law, suggesting that rising the rising price of commodities was the critical factor behind rising consumer good prices. In terms of this year's forecast, Sun described 2017's economic situation as akin to reaching the light at the end of a tunnel and leading to an upbeat outlook.

Source: The China Post February 24, 2017 07:18 UTC