Less than a week before a planned protest of thousands of fishermen and farmers, the Cabinet announced last night that it will immediately suspend a three-tier risk-control mechanism over the credit units of farmers' and fishermen's associations.
The Cabinet said it was indefinitely suspending the regulations because its attempts to deal with the problems of grassroots credit units has been misinterpreted as a move to destroy farmers' and fishermen's associations, Cabinet Secretary General Liu Shih-fang (
Despite the suspension of the risk-control measures, the government will continue monitoring credit cooperatives with high non-performing loan ratios, because they still pose a threat to the nation's financial health, Liu said.
The Cabinet on Saturday said it was considering shifting supervision over the grassroots credit units from the Ministry of Finance to the Council of Agriculture.
After a three-hour intra-ministerial meeting presided over by Minister-without-portfolio Hu Sheng-cheng (
In addition, the Cabinet will call a summit by the end of November on agricultural financing and the consolidation of grassroots credit units, Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
Even though it has no experience of financial supervision, the Council of Agriculture would like to take on this role to meet increasing demands from grassroots lenders, council Chairman Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) said after the meeting.
The Cabinet's announcement comes ahead of a mass protest on Saturday in which organizers say as many as 100,000 farmers and fishermen will demonstrate in Taipei to voice their dissatisfaction with the way the finance ministry has handled the cleanup of grassroots credit units.
The finance ministry had originally proposed making permanent the three-tier risk-control mechanism that has been in use since early September and restricts their lending and saving businesses.
More than 100 credit units with non-performing loan ratios of more than 25 percent have NT$88.7 billion in bad loans. Seventy-six credit units have a bad-loan ratio of between 15 percent and 25 percent, amounting to NT$35 billion in bad loans. Another 65 credit cooperatives have less than 10 percent in bad loans, worth NT$8.4 billion.
To ease growing tension with farmers' and fishermen's associations, the ministry said yesterday it may consider adjusting some of the requirements for credit cooperatives with high bad-loan ratios, beginning this week.
Vice Minister Susan Chang (
If credit units with an bad-loan ratio of between 10 percent and 15 percent "promise" to reduce the ratio to below 10 percent for a period of three months, the ministry would lift all restrictions on their lending, Chang said.
The ministry's risk-control mechanism had previously prohibited credit units with a bad-loan ratio above 10 percent from accepting deposits from non-members. It also banned credit units with a bad-loan ratio of between 15 percent and 25 percent from granting loans of more than NT$3 million to sponsoring members, who are not fishermen or farmers but who have invested in the association.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS