The government has convinced banks to help bail out large companies that do not cut personnel during a certain timeframe with loans at preferential interest rates, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said yesterday.
Lee said banks would provide as much as NT$600 billion (US$28.1 billion) for the bailout, an agreement reached between the Ministry of Finance and the Bankers Association of the Republic of China (銀行公會) on Wednesday stipulated.
“In the face of the global financial crisis, there is no lack of money in the country, but we do need to increase liquidity,” Lee said at a press conference following the weekly Cabinet meeting, where he briefed Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) on the bailout plan.
“Money is not a problem,” Lee said. “Total savings in financial institutions amounts to more than NT$20 trillion, while total loans are between NT$17 and NT$18 trillion.”
Companies qualifying for the bailout plan are in the manufacturing, construction, mining, and quarry sectors with capital of more than NT$80 million or more than 200 employees, and other businesses with an annual turnover of more than NT$100 million or with more than 50 employees.
Under the plan, a business would be granted a loan at a lower interest rate on condition that it does not reduce staff during the loan period.
Businesses could obtain a medium and short-term working capital loan of as much as NT$60 million, while capital investment loans would be capped at NT$200 million.
The plan, which came into force yesterday, will last until the end of 2010.
In related news, the Cabinet approved an amendment to the Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參與公共建設法) that grants tax allowances to private businesses involved in telecommunications infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Executive Yuan Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) quoted Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) as saying at the Cabinet meeting that all government agencies should expand short-term job creation by using a NT$3.1 billion budget to be spent by the end of this year and NT$6 billion earmarked for the same purpose next year.
Council for Economic Planning and Development briefed the Cabinet yesterday on how many jobs had been created so far. No numbers were released to the media, but the Cabinet hoped the employment plan, which came into effect on Nov.1, would create 46,000 jobs this year and 56,000 next year.
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