Taiwan's economic monitoring indicators flashed a 'yellow-red' light in May, ending a four-month streak of 'red, ' which signals overheating, because of subdued growth in money supply and a drop in share prices. 'The new signal means that the pace of our economic expansion has slowed but the economy is still posting healthy growth, ' said Hung Jui-bin, director-general of the Economic Research Department under the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) , at a news conference Monday. In the months ahead, Hung predicted, the domestic economy will continue its steady growth, with the monitoring indicators flashing 'green' because of relatively higher comparison bases recorded for the second half of last year. Meanwhile, CEPD Vice Chairman Hu Chung-ying said major international economic research institutions have revised upward their GDP growth forecasts for Taiwan for 2010 as they believe a new cross-Taiwan Strait trade pact will accelerate the country's economic development. Among others, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) raised its growth forecast for Taiwan to 8.5 percent earlier this month, up from its previous estimate of 5.6 percent. According to Hu, an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) is the key that will spur the country's fixed capital investment and improve job prospects. In the first five months alone, private investment already exceeded NT$447 billion, he added. The following are excerpts from the local media coverage of the issue: Commercial Times: President Ma Ying-jeou forecast optimistically Monday that Taiwan's economy is likely to post a hefty 8 percent growth this year, up from the original estimate of 6.14 percent, because the ECFA will help spur investment and industrial development. He made the remarks during a dinner with senior administration officials and heavyweight ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers on the eve of the signing of the landmark cross-strait agreement in Chongqing, China, to seek legislative support for the pact. Ma, who concurrently serves as KMT chairman, said he hopes the Legislative Yuan will hold an extra session by the end of August to screen and approve the ECFA so that the agreement can take effect in mid-September to facilitate follow-up cross-strait negotiations on investment protection and further trade liberalization. Describing the pact as very important to Taiwan's economic well-being, Ma said Taiwan's exports to China will spike on tariff cuts under the ECFA's 'early harvest' program, which will in turn fuel overall economic growth and generate more jobs. 'Up to 23,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises, with a combined work force of 420,000, will benefit from the ECFA, ' according to Ma. (June 29, 2010). Economic Daily News: The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have agreed to speed up the establishment of a cross-strait economic cooperation committee to resolve trade disputes that might arise from the implementation of the 'early harvest' program under the ECFA. Sources familiar with cross-strait affairs said China intends to assign officials from 17 of its various government departments to join the proposed cross-strait committee to address trade disputes. Those departments include China's finance and commerce ministries, as well as its customs and quality control agencies. (June 29, 2010) United Daily News: China reportedly would very much like to sign a cultural exchange agreement with Taiwan in the post-ECFA era. Chinese officials have been quoted as saying they hope the proposal can be included on the agenda of the biannual high-level cross-strait talks scheduled for the second half of this year. China especially wants to strengthen information and news exchanges with Taiwan in the hope that its media outlets will be allowed to set up offices in Taiwan. Relevant proposals, however, have received a lukewarm response from Taiwan. According to Taiwanese officials, cultural and news exchanges can be more effectively conducted by means of private or civic channels rather than through official channels. Taiwan reportedly instead most looks forward to signing an investment protection pact and a health care exchange pact in the next round of talks. (June 29, 2010). Liberty Times: It was decided during a dinner hosted by President and KMT Chairman Ma Monday in honor of KMT lawmakers that the ECFA will not be subject to a 'clause by clause' screening by the legislature and will instead be put up for screening in a whole package. The KMT-dominated legislature is expected to call an extraordinary session on July 5 at the earliest to screen the ECFA, political sources said. (June 29, 2010). 