The Ministry of Finance (MOF) will put more effort into managing state-owned shares and land to increase government revenue, a ministry official said yesterday.
National Treasury Agency Director-General Hwang Ding-fang (黃定方) said the ministry has formed a team to supervise the management of government-owned shares, with the aim of managing them more effectively, strengthening corporate performance and competitiveness and increasing income for the government.
According to Hwang, the government holds 88.1 billion state shares worth NT$2.9 trillion (US$89.9 billion), of which 20.8 billion, worth about NT$600 billion, are held by the ministry.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has asked the ministry to focus more on activating national assets, saying that the government, with the large amount of land and shares in its hands, was “complaining about being poor while sitting on a golden chair,” a ministry official quoted Wu as saying.
Hwang said the ministry has also formed a team to better manage state-owned land. Citing Taipei 101 as an example, he said the government provided the land for private investors to construct the building, which not only brought more income and tax revenue, but also created 3,000 jobs.
In addition, with outstanding savings deposits of NT$27 trillion and lending of NT$20 trillion, there is about NT$7 trillion held by banks, Hwang said, adding that this money should be invested in public construction projects, which would benefit the government as well as the public.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will seriously consider alternative plans to help the nation’s ailing computer memory sector if the Legislative Yuan decides to reject the government’s plan to restructure the industry, an MOEA official said on Friday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said that with DRAM chip prices on the rebound, there would be more time for the ministry to consider more sophisticated ways of restructuring the industry.
“We will not do it in a hurry,” he added.
The Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee adopted a resolution last month asking the MOEA to suspend its DRAM industry restructuring plan and withdraw its proposed investment in the state-backed Taiwan Memory Co (TMC, 台灣創新記憶體公司), which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the plan.
Although the ministry has been lobbying lawmakers not to scuttle the plan, Shih said it would propose alternative plans if another resolution opposing the restructuring plan is passed by the full Legislative Yuan by the end of the current session on Thursday.
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