The Republic of China Consumer Voucher () is a type of
voucher
A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain money, monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include house, housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term vou ...
issued by the
government of the Republic of China
The Government of the Republic of China is the central government, national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of Taiwan (island), main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu Islands, Matsu, and list of islands of ...
in times of economic troubles. In 2009, the first series of vouchers was issued in respond to the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. and a second series (known as the
Triple Stimulus Vouchers) was issued in 2020 in response to the
COVID-19 recession
The COVID-19 recession was a global economic recession caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. The recession began in most countries in February 2020. After a year of global economic slowdown that saw stagnation of economic growth and consumer activit ...
. The second series was issued both as physical vouchers as well as digital e-vouchers.
2009 issues
The 2009 ROC consumer voucher programme was a part of an economic stimulus package held by the government of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. The distribution of the vouchers to every ROC
citizen
Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...
born before 31 March 2009 and some foreign residents (i.e. spouses of citizens) began on 18 January 2009. The purpose of these
vouchers was to combat the effects of the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. . According to government officials, the vouchers had to be picked up before 30 April 2009, had to be used before 30 September 2009, and could not be deposited into bank accounts. The overall amount distributed in the form of Consumer Vouchers was $85.8 billion
New Taiwan Dollars, roughly around $2.75 billion
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
.
Each recipient was entitled to NT$3600, about US$115, the day the vouchers were distributed. Around 91% of the vouchers were issued during the first phase of the distribution. These vouchers could be used to purchase just about any item in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
; however, there were a few notable restrictions. They could not be used to buy
lottery
A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
tickets or stored-value merchandise, such as
prepaid cards.
Based on the premise of a
multiplier effect
In macroeconomics, a multiplier is a factor of proportionality that measures how much an endogenous variable changes in response to a change in some exogenous variable.
For example, suppose variable ''x''
changes by ''k'' units, which causes an ...
in
economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
, the ROC Government estimates a growth of 0.66% to 1% in
GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...
as a result of the increase in domestic demand from the circulation of these vouchers.
許玉君、李明賢,消費券效應 GDP估增0.66~1百分點,聯合報,2009-01-20
/ref>
2020 issues
During the 2020 Coronavirus recession the government of the Republic of China
The Government of the Republic of China is the central government, national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of Taiwan (island), main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu Islands, Matsu, and list of islands of ...
as part of its post-epidemic revitalisation of the business climate in the country, as the economy of Taiwan
Taiwan is a highly developed free-market economy. It is the 8th largest in Asia and 21st-largest in the world by purchasing power parity, allowing Taiwan to be included in the advanced economies group by the International Monetary Fund. Taiw ...
took a major hit from the global pandemic issued a new series of consumer vouchers (振興經濟消費券, "Promoting the economy consumption coupons"). These vouchers were available in two forms, people could register to receive them as physical vouchers which resembled banknotes
A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commer ...
or as digital vouchers that could be used on the internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
tied to electronic payment
An e-commerce payment system (or an electronic payment system) facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for offline transfer, also known as a subcomponent of electronic data interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increa ...
s, e-ticket
An electronic ticket is a method of ticket entry, processing, and marketing for companies in the airline, railways and other transport and entertainment industries.
Airline ticket
E-tickets in the airline industry were devised in about 1994, an ...
, credit cards, as well as other digital consumption models.
Initially the Ministry of Economic Affairs sought to only issue them digitally, but then under the pressure of public opinion they also launched these vouchers as paper certificates. These consumer digital vouchers could be used through a website set up by the Republican Chinese government at "https://3000.gov.tw/". In order to incentivise people to choose for the digital vouchers the Ministry of Economic Affairs launched a campaign where users of the digital vouchers could win a Gogoro
Gogoro Inc. is a Taiwanese company that developed a Battery swapping, battery-swapping refueling platform for urban electric vehicle, electric two-wheel Scooter (motorcycle), scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. It also develops its own line of elect ...
VIVA Lite. With the winners of the first wave of motor vehicles being drawn from July 6 to July 15 for 10 consecutive days, 1 draw every day, and the second wave of winners would be announced from July 16 to September 31. The campaign would last a total of 15 weeks, and during the second round a winner was to be drawn out of once every week, with a total of 25 motor vehicles available for the draw.
Eligible people could book them from 1 July 2020. By the afternoon of 3 July, over 3 million people had already registered to receive these vouchers. Of these registrations over 70% of the people opted to receive them as paper certificates while only 30% opted for the digital versions.
The Executive Yuan originally estimated that the printing of 3,000,000 copies for the public would obviously be insufficient, and in respond to the large demand for physical vouchers tripled the production and the President of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China, Su Tseng-chang
Su Tseng-chang ( zh, t=蘇貞昌, poj=So͘ Cheng-chhiong, p=Sū Zhēnchāng; born 28 July 1948) is a Taiwanese politician who served as premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2019 to 2023. He was the chairma ...
, responded that the people wouldn't need to worry about delays. Local governments and small businesses reportedly told people to book as early as possible so there would be minimal delay during the rollout.
In December 2020 many shops started offering discounts to people that did not use their voucher yet as they neared their expiration date.
Design
The 2020 vouchers were offered in two variants, one of 200 New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar (code: TWD; symbol: NT$, also abbreviated as NT), or simply the Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Usually, the $ sign precedes the amount, but NT$ is used to distinguish from othe ...
s and one of 500 New Taiwan dollars. They both featured a map of the Republic of China (island of Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...
and the other free areas) on the obverse with the denomination as well as the expiration date
An expiration date or expiry date is a previously determined date after which something should no longer be used, either by operation of law or by exceeding the anticipated shelf life for perishable goods. Expiration dates are applied to some f ...
for final usage using the Chinese republican calendar (使用期限至109年12月31日止). Above the map the text "中華民國 - 興景三倍券" (Republic of China - Revitalisation Triple Ticket) appeared, while both notes contained a notice of the limitations that they cannot be exchanged for cash (不得換現金, ''bù dé huàn xiàn jīn''), no change (不得找零錢, ''bù děi zhǎo líng qián''), no stored value (不得儲值, ''bù dé chǔ zhí''). The vouchers both featured security features and on the right side was the word "TAIWAN" written in Latin script
The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...
.
The NTD 200 voucher is green in colour, while the NTD 500 variant is red.
References
{{Authority control
Economy of Taiwan
Economic stimulus programs