The Executive Yuan yesterday held a public hearing, chaired by Vice Premier Chang Chung-hsiung (張俊雄) to exchange views with the legislature on the budget for the next fiscal year. Less than a quarter of the 221 legislators attended.
In his opening remarks, Premier Tang Fei (
Tang said that the government intended to raise the ceiling on national debt or to issue extraordinary government bonds (bonds issued on an ad-hoc basis for specific purposes) in order to increase revenues.
According to Director-General Lin Chuan (林全) of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, annual revenue for the 2001 fiscal year will be approximately NT$1.458 trillion, an increase of NT$98 billion or 7.2 percent compared to the projected figure for fiscal 2000. Meanwhile, annual expenditures will be approximately NT$1.608 trillion, an increase of NT$95 billion -- or 6.3 percent -- over fiscal 2000.
Lin further indicated that the shortfall of NT$150 billion between annual revenues and expenditures, along with domestic debt of NT$255 billion due for repayment soon, would be balanced, if government bonds worth NT$260 billions were sold, and an additional NT$100 billion in loans were raised to pay off the debts of the former government.
Legislators from every party had some criticism for the national budget.
KMT Legislator Liu Kuang-hua (
DPP Legislator Cho Jung-tai (
Cho further criticized the allocation for health insurance (NT$108 billion), labor insurance (NT$17 billion) and civil servants' insurance (NT$62 billion) as only sufficient to meet the current deficits of all three schemes.
DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) also voiced worries that funding for local government projects seemed to have been sacrificed in favor of the Executive Yuan's emphasis on President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) campaign promises for social welfare programs.
New Party legislative whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), moreover, blasted the new government for not allowing sufficient funds for environmental protection, high-tech infrastructure and education, despite President Chen's campaign platform of a "green silicon island" (綠色矽島) in Taiwan.
Concluding the hearing, Vice Premier Chang admitted that the new budget plan had been prepared in a hurry and was based on the draft budget of the former Cabinet led by Vincent Siew (
Lin Chuan, nevertheless, told the Taipei Times that total governmental revenue and expenditure figures would not be changed, and that each government agency would make minor adjustments to meet its administrative priorities.
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