The Cabinet yesterday approved new subsidy and relief funds of NT$34.56 billion (US$1.17 billion) to support sectors and people hard hit by surging COVID-19 infections as the nation seeks to live with the virus.
The program, proposed by the National Development Council (NDC), is intended to benefit 899,000 people after the number of daily COVID-19 cases climbed above 80,000 this month and is expected to remain high for the next one to two months.
“Taiwan is going through a transition, during which time people have voluntarily cut nonessential activity, dealing a blow to restaurants, travel agencies, transportation and other tourism-related sectors,” NDC research director Wu Ming-huei (吳明蕙) told a media briefing.
Photo: CNA
The program is to include wage subsidies, vocational training, rent and rights waivers, loan extensions and stimulus spending, the Cabinet said after its weekly meeting.
The hardest-hit industries include the food and beverage sector, exhibitions and conferences, airport and port services, arts and culture, aviation and transportation, as well as travel and tourism.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs had originally earmarked a relief fund of NT$600 million to help the food and beverage sector, but sought an additional allocation to bring the total funding to NT$3.625 billion, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said in a statement.
The ministry started accepting subsidy applications on Monday last week, with the deadline for applications falling on June 15, the statement said.
Hundreds of domestic companies have revived unpaid leave programs as they grapple with a plunge in business, the General Chamber of Commerce (全國商總) said last week, pressing the government to intervene without delay.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Labor had already stepped up relief funds for severely affected companies and workers.
The domestic outbreak is derailing a burgeoning recovery in demand, while exports could lose momentum amid China’s lockdowns and heightened inflationary pressure induced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said the subsidy program would help Taiwan achieve GDP growth of nearly 4 percent this year, even if it is likely to miss the government’s 4 percent target.
Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) early this month warned about GDP growth not reaching the 4 percent target after international energy and raw material prices climbed higher than expected, and sales of consumer electronics disappointed.
The relief funds would be extended to transportation companies, exhibition organizers and performance artists, in addition to restaurants, hotels and travel agencies, the Cabinet said.
The government said that it would also extend tariff reductions on imported gas and key raw materials by another three months to the end of September to help mitigate inflationary pressure.
Additional reporting by CNA
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