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Premier to streamline government

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) announced a new system of rewards and punishments for government workers yesterday aimed at streamlining the government payroll and improving efficiency.

Chang said the Executive Yuan will adopt a decidedly heavy-handed policy toward government workers in the future -- handsomely rewarding those who work hard, while severely punishing those who fail to perform. The new policy is aimed at creating a leaner, more efficient government.

Officials hope these measures -- as well as a wage freeze -- help achieve the government's goal of one percent negative annual growth in public payrolls over the next four years. Chang made the remarks at a meeting at the Cabinet-level Central Personnel Administration.

The announcement came after Chang said Thursday that the Executive Yuan wants to reduce the number of public servants in order to ease the strain on governmental finances. He promised to include all areas of the public sector in the cuts, including government workers, military personnel and teachers.

In order to create a patently clear set of rewards and punishments, the premier asked Central Personnel Administration officials to create and administer a new set of regulations governing all levels of personnel. He also told the agency to develop a new method to calculate and pay government wages.

Meanwhile, Chang said that government reconstruction projects reached an 86 percent implementation rate, totaling NT$810 billion (US$23.48 billion) in the first six months of this year, a rate one percent higher than originally planned.

Officials hope infrastructure projects will help re-invigorate the domestic economy, which is languishing at its lowest point in years. Chang aims to get the implementation rate up to 90 percent in the second half of the year in order to pump new funds into the economy.

In related news, in response to Standard & Poor's recent credit rating report lowering Taiwan's long-term credit rating from AA+ to AA, Chang said his government would initiate "the six financial reform laws" to improve the banking industry. The lower credit rating means Taiwan is viewed as a riskier place to lend money to and makes new loans more expensive for the government.
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