Faced with a gloomy economic outlook, the Cabinet yesterday approved the fiscal budget for next year, with the largest year-on-year increase in expenditures earmarked for projects designed to boost economic growth.
The proposed budget allotment for economic development projects was set at NT$272.6 billion (US$9.1 billion), an increase of 1.6 percent, or NT$4.4 billion, compared with this year.
That would account for 14 percent of total government spending of NT$1.9446 trillion for next year. The additional NT$4.4 billion is to be used in the construction of railways, mass rapid transit systems, and agricultural and farm village development projects, the proposal showed.
“The problem of economic adversity was of most concern when we wrote the budget,” Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) told a press conference after the meeting.
Compared with this year’s budget, the Cabinet proposed cuts in expenditures for defense; education, science and culture; community development and environmental protection programs; and debt repayment items, except for expenses in economy and statutory spending in social welfare programs, retirement pensions, and general fund subsidies for local governments.
Shih said the economic slump and uncertainty put the DGBAS “in a difficult situation” to meet all budget requests made by all government departments and agencies.
“What we focused on for next year was mainly to enlarge the budget for public construction projects to stimulate economic growth,” Shih said.
For economic development, the government has earmarked NT$191.2 billlion in public construction projects, an increase of NT$6.1 billion, or 3.3 percent, compared with this year, the proposal showed.
However, if expenditures from special budgets and state-owned enterprises’ budgets were included, the total budget for public construction projects next year would be NT$379.1 billion, a decrease of NT$19.4 billion compared with this year, mainly due to the completion of a project by state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) at the end of this year, Shih said.
Proposed expenditure on community development and environmental protection programs took up the largest share of cuts, with the budget for this category set at NT$17.2 billion next year, a decrease of 5.5 percent, or NT$1 billion.
This was followed by defense spending, which saw its budget cut by 0.7 percent, or NT$2.1 billion; education, science and culture, which decreased by 0.4 percent, or NT$1.6 billion; and debt repayment, which declined by 0.3 percent, or NT$400 million.
Shih said that the proposed defense spending of NT$307.3 billion next year, together with a fund of NT$83.3 billion operated by the Ministry of National Defense to be used in the reconstruction of military dormitories and military camps and arms production by the Bureau of Armaments and Acquisition, would account for 2.71 percent of the projected GDP of NT$14.43 trillion.
The figure would still be below a pledge President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) made when he was running for office in 2008 to increase defense spending to 3 percent of GDP.
The draft budget for next year projected revenues of NT$1.7302 trillion, an increase of 0.02 percent, or NT$400 million, compared with this year, and expenditures of NT$1.7298 trillion, an increase of 0.3 percent, or NT$5.8 billion.
The government’s estimated fiscal shortfall for next year was NT$214.4 billion.
Shih said the government would take out loans of NT$284.4 billion next year and use the NT$7 billion surplus of the previous fiscal year to meet the shortfall to repay debts of NT$77 billion.
The DGBAS said the government’s outstanding debts would rise to an all-time high of NT$5.269 trillion, or 37.1 percent of the average GNP of the past three years, though still lower than the 40 percent debt limit.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS