With the government's fiscal status having improved significantly as the economy has recovered, the Ministry of Finance vowed to achieve fiscal balance by 2011, according to a ministry statement released on its Web site.
The ministry's response came after the Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Wednesday that Taiwan's sovereign credit ratings outlook remained "negative," on the grounds that Taiwan's fiscal position is expected to remain "vulnerable to politics and a lower growth trend" and that "fiscal reform measures are still insufficient to address longer-term budgetary pressures."
The ministry said in the statement that the government has since April 22, 2003 implemented fiscal reforms consisting of 60 short-term, medium-term and long-term measures, 29 of which have achieved significant results.
Thanks to the recovering economy, the government received NT$53.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) in excess of the target revenue amount last year, the first time since 1999 that the revenues have reached the target.
This year, tax revenues received by the government had accounted for 107.6 percent of the target amount as of the end of last month, with the government expecting to receive approximately NT$110 billion in excess of the target for the whole year, the ministry said.
The increase in tax revenues, together with the government's belt-tightening measures, is expected to narrow the fiscal deficit for this year to NT$125 billion, compared with the NT$274.7 billion previously projected by the government, the ministry said.
"For this [2005] fiscal year, the government's spendings may exceed incomes by NT$125 billion, a substantial cutback of around NT$150 billion from an earlier estimated NT$274.7 billion, which shows that the government's fund shortages have improved," the statement read.
As for the budget plan for next year (currently being reviewed by the Legislative Yuan), the growth of the projected expenses is minus 0.5 percent, while the growth of the projected incomes is 5.3 percent, the ministry said.
The decrease in projected expenses and increase in projected incomes have thus kept the projected deficit below NT$200 billion, according to the statement.
Government debts payable is expected to amount to NT$3.9 trillion at the end of next year, accounting for 35.6 percent of the average gross national product for the previous three years, the ministry said.
This will mean an increase of 1.3 percentage points from the 34.3 percent for this year, which will be the lowest increase rate in four years, the ministry added.
The taxation reforms currently being carried out by the government, which include the introduction of minimum income tax rates targeting high-income earners, will help enhance tax fairness and ensure the stability of government revenue, the statement concluded.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
Nvidia is to open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, where it plans to collaborate with scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Thursday. Huang made the announcement at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, where the company held a day of events focused on quantum computing. Nvidia added the program after Huang in January said that useful quantum computers are 20 years away, comments that he sought to walk back on Thursday while joined onstage by executives from quantum computing firms. “This is the first event in history
RSS