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Cabinet changes funding for special weapons budget

The US arms-procurement package can be partly funded from the government's regular budget instead of from appropriations from a special budget, the Cabinet decided yesterday.

The Cabinet passed a draft budget plan for next year that included NT$7 billion (US$218.8) for the special arms-procurement project.

Of that amount, NT$350 million will be contributed by the Cabinet and the remaining will be from the Ministry of National Defense's regular budget.

Spending level

As a result, the nation's overall defense spending for next year will be NT$253.8 billion, a NT$4.1 billion increase from this year's level and accounting for 15.9 percent of the government's total annual expenditure.

The special arms package calls for an outlay of NT$480 billion. The government originally planned to finance it with a special budget plan to span a period of 15 years.

The bill has been held up in the legislature because of opposition parties' feeling that the cost of the weaponry is too expensive and that any payments ought not come from a special budget.

The Cabinet approved the government's budget plan for next year at its weekly meeting earlier in the day, which projects annual total revenues to be NT$1.4 trillion and annual expenditures of NT$1.6 trillion.

"The budgetary gap is less than in 2005," a budget-planning official said, adding that in addition to using its previous budget surplus, the government will have to float NT$239 billion in state bonds, or 14.8 percent of its total spending, to make ends meet.

Compared with the this year's budget plan, next year's government expenditures will mark a 0.5 percent decrease.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said that although the government's budget will not increase next year, the Cabinet has adjusted its spending structure in line with its overall national development plans.

Disbursements

In next year's budget plan, Hsieh said, disbursements related to the upgrading of national competitiveness and industrial technological development will grow substantially, and spending on the upgrading of living quality and public safety, including physical education, health care, community services, fighting crime and ethnic diversity, will also increase.

"Our 2006 budget plan has given balanced emphasis on economic development, social justice, environmental protection and cultural renaissance," he said.

According to the Cabinet-drafted budget bill, NT$84.3 billion will be appropriated for technological development projects, marking all-time-high growth of 19.7 percent from the year-earlier level.

NT$11.5 billion will be earmarked for a "six-star" community development project, marking 14.2 percent in annual growth. Spending on crime-fighting will surge 6.5 percent and expenditures for welfare services for minority ethnic groups will see a 10.8 percent rise.
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