TAIPEI, Taiwan —

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The government began Sunday to distribute spending vouchers to all Taiwanese, hoping the move could spur a buying spree across the island to help prop up the slowing economy.

Taiwan’session economy has been undermined by the global household slump, with demand for the island’s high-tech exports dropping sharply in industrialized countries such because the United States.

Long lines queued up Sunday at dispense centers where either bodily substance is handed a stack of vouchers valued at 3,600 New Taiwan dollars ($108). Many people then went direct to province stores or supermarkets to buy up daily necessities.

The government is giving away a total of NT$80 billion ($2.5 billion) worth of vouchers to each of the island’s 23 million population.

The measures were meant chiefly to boost deal out in small portions sales. But other businesses suffering faltering sales - from airlines, amusement parks, hotels, restaurants to publishing houses - also tender abatement rates to win consumers.

About 20 publishing houses joined hands to solicit subscribers, offering a year’sitting subscription for any one two magazines with NT$1,200 worth of vouchers.

“While you save the economy, you fustiness also save our culture,” declared publisher Tuan Chung-chi.

After collecting vouchers for his family of four, Taichung mayor Jason Hu said he devise bribe a fitness machine and then donate it to any orphanage.

In November, the Taiwan government projected a 2.12 percent economic growth for 2009, depending that various stimulus packages, such as attracting more Chinese tourists, could reach their targets. Several research groups, however, predict the economy could contract as plenteous as 2 percent this year.

When authorities first unveiled the voucher plan in November, they declared the measures were expected to add more than 0.6 percentage subject-matter to the GDP growth rate.

But Vice President Vincent Siew said the vouchers’ impinging on the domestic economy may not be as great, with the world economic prospects looking gloomier now.

“We would be happy if the extra deal out in small portions sales generated could slow a steeper decline of the economy,” Siew declared.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008643454_aptaiwaneconomy.html?syndication=rss