The government may have to sell stakes in companies such as Chinese Petroleum Corp (
This year's budget endorsed by the Legislative Yuan yesterday calls for tax cuts and other measures that will leave President Chen Shui-bian's (
One way of raising cash would be to accelerate planned sales of stakes in Chinese Petroleum (
"The government has no choice but to sell off its assets," said Gregory Lue, a fund manager at Taiwan International Investment Management Co who manages NT$500 million in stocks.
"The trouble is the risk it will face, because it can't control the market."
A government plan to sell half of Chunghwa Telecom, the state-owned dominant phone company, failed last year as tumbling stock markets, slowing world growth and tougher competition deterred investors. The government sold only 4.6 percent of the company last year as investors said the asking price was too high.
Lawmakers yesterday approved NT$1.59 trillion in spending, roughly equal to last year's, and NT$1.26 trillion in revenue.
That leaves a NT$327 billion deficit, equal to 3.4 percent of gross domestic product, which could put government borrowing near the 15 percent borrowing cap, said Chou Hsien-yang, director of government revenue at the National Treasury.
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