The Ministry of National Defense this year paid NT$153.107 billion (US$4.996 billion) to military personnel, or 35.96 percent of the government’s entire budget for personnel costs, the Legislative Yuan Budget Center said in a report, adding that the government should find additional sources of revenue to fund military personnel expenditure before the costs affect funding for other programs.
Total costs for central governmental personnel was estimated at NT$425.756 billion, an increase of NT$18.659 billion from last year, or 4.38 percent, the report said.
Personnel spending has increased each year since 2015, reversing the previous trend of a decline that began in 2013, it said.
Also since 2013, military personnel expenditure has claimed a majority of the central government’s personnel budget, the report said.
Each year since then, active service members have accounted for more than 35 percent of the central government’s personnel budget, and if retried service members are included, the figure is more than 50 percent each year, it said.
In 2011, the Ministry of National Defense began its all-volunteer force initiative in the expectation that active service members would all be volunteers within three years, it said.
However, the armed forces only employs 146,785 volunteers, or 78.1 percent of its personnel, it said.
In an effort to meet delayed program goals, the ministry initiated improvements to military salaries and benefits, which successfully increased enlistments, but also resulted in the growth of military personnel costs, it said.
In its budget for this year, the ministry listed NT$153.107 billion for personnel costs, or 35.96 percent of the government’s total budget for personnel-related expenditure, it said.
The increase is largely due to the enlistment of 152,318 volunteers anticipated this year, or 81 percent of the total force, but still shy of the 90 percent goal based on revised projections, it said.
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