Cheming Yang
Goat year is around the corner. The horse year is saying its goodbye. Economically speaking, the horse year was not too bad a year. The US economy is doing better and China is holding its ground. Both countries’ stock markets are quite bullish recently. The 2014 fourth quarter GDP year on year growth was 3.17 percent for Taiwan, which is a three year high. Europe is not doing so well judging from the fact of looming European quantitative easing and the winning of Greek anti-austerity movement in its recent national election.
People born in a year of the Goat are generally believed to be gentle mild-mannered, shy, stable, sympathetic, amicable, and brimming with a strong sense of kindheartedness and justice. They prefer to be in groups and do not want to be the center of attention. They are reserved and quiet, most likely because they like spending much time in their thoughts.
Is a goat year like a goat person? It is mostly likely to be a relatively stable year economically speaking. With the oil price going down, most countries should benefit from the lowering of living, manufacturing and transportation costs. Oil price has global impact and it is not expected to have severe fluctuation this year. As such, the global economy should be stable as a whole generally speaking. This goat year might not be all that different from a goal person after all.
However, the world population is getting more aged in the coming year. With the dwindling of labor force, most countries will not see a dramatic increase of GDPs, which also holds true for the Chinese communities. Therefore, we should seek sustainable growth in the face of aging. In order to achieve this task, economic restructuring should be an ongoing task. The influence of information and communication technology (ICT) is penetrating deeper and deeper into our daily lives, which in turn will change the structure of future economy beyond our wildest imagination. The ICT industry and the services catering to the aging population should be the twin engines that drive the development for the foreseeable future.
GOLD MONEY TALK 