The financial crisis in the US has cost the civil servant retirement fund more than NT$300 million (US$9.3 million), Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) said yesterday.
Chang said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers cost the fund more than NT$38 million. Another NT$276.5 million was lost after the takeover of investment bank AIG and an additional NT$54 million in the subprime credit crunch, he said
While the government has activated the National Stabilization Fund to support the stock market, Chang said the money did not come from the civil servant retirement fund.
Chang made the remarks at the legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday.
He said that since the civil servant retirement fund was established in 1995, NT$495 billion had been paid into it as of last month against total expenses of about NT$162 billion.
Chang said the fund receives about NT$4.6 billion each month, or NT$53 billion a year. Annual expenses are about NT$24 billion.
Aside from bank deposits, Chang said funds had been channeled into local and international investments.
From July 1, 1995 to last month, the net profit of the fund’s investment was NT$55.8 billion. This year, however, the fund had lost NT$26.7 billion as of last month.
While Chang’s predecessor, Chu Wu-hsien (朱武獻), was criticized for being personally involved in the fund’s investment in the stock market, Chang yesterday said he would spend 70 percent of his working day dealing with the ministry’s affairs and 30 percent attending to the fund’s investment.
He also promised to stop using ineffective investment companies.
During Chu’s tenure, he irked the legislature by proposing reform of the 18 percent preferential interest rate on the savings of teachers, civil servants and soldiers.
Chu is under investigation by the Control Yuan and prosecutors after media allegations that his management had led to massive losses for the Civil Servants Pension Fund.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS