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Government set to reduce number of public workers

The Executive Yuan is aiming to reduce the number of public servants to ease the strain on governmental finances, sources from the Central Personnel Administration said yesterday.

Administration officials said that all sectors will be addressed, including government employees, military personnel and teachers, and the target will be a negative growth rate of 1 percent annually over the next four years. The steps must be taken, the officials stressed, because of the worsening economic situation in Taiwan.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) will be briefed Friday by the administration on their plans to create a leaner government workforce, and a "zero growth" target for public servants' payrolls.

Government officials also hope to streamline the way in which wages are calculated and paid to government employees.

According to administration tallies, the number of public functionaries grew at an average rate of minus 0.81 percent between 1997 and 2000.

The officials said the administration will continue to control growth, hopefully maintaining it at around minus 1 percent annually for the next four years.

In addition, administration officials said that beginning in 2002, year-end bonuses will no longer be automatically paid. Instead, cash incentives will be awarded only to those workers who have demonstrated superior performance on the job after a review by their superiors.

On Wednesday, the Cabinet preliminarily finalized its 2002 budget proposal that boasts a shortfall of NT$248.9 billion, which expands to NT$500.3 billion if financing on government-issued debt is included.

Under the new budget, the central government's anticipated revenue for next year will decline 2.4 percent from this year to NT$1.347 trillion, while expenditure will increase 1.3 percent to NT$1.596 trillion, according to Lin Chuan (林全), head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Premier Chang called for all bodies to find ways to cut costs and to examine ways of restructuring various large loss-generating state-run companies.

The Ministry of National Defense is seeking a budget of NT$50 billion to upgrade an modernize weaponry and boost preparedness in the face of the sensitive cross-strait situation, but government officials are still trying to find ways to meet that proposal.

In addition, the government has budgeted NT$4 billion to offset National Stabilization Fund losses, which is used to artificially prop up the TAIEX. The fund is supposed to be used when "outside influences" affect market performance.

The amount is about one-tenth of the losses registered by the fund, and the remaining losses will be balanced against stock in state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖), according to officials.
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