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Cabinet may draft a special budget to cover the cost of reconstruction

The Cabinet may draft a special earthquake disaster budget that could range somewhere between NT$$60 billion to NT$80 billion (US$1.9 billion to US$2.5 billion) which could boost economic growth by 0.5 to 1.0 percentage points, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday.

The budget would need to be passed by the legislature.

Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) was quoted as saying that if the reconstruction costs from the quake are too large, the Cabinet will consider proposing a special budget to the legislature.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Paul Chiu (邱正雄) was quoted as saying that the ministry will use all means to raise funds, and will even issue special disaster bills or disaster bonds if needed.

A Cabinet official said that if losses from the earthquake reach NT$100 billion, a special budget of NT$60 billion to NT$80 billion should be sufficient to prevent an impact on economic growth, the paper reported.

It was also reported that a NT$80 billion capital expenditure by the government would boost economic growth by 1 percentage point.
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