The Cabinet yesterday approved a NT$410 billion (US$12.6 billion) special budget to enhance national security and boost economic resilience against the effects of US tariffs.
Based on the Cabinet’s proposal, it would earmark an additional NT$5 billion on top of the NT$88 billion package it approved earlier this month to help local businesses tackle the effects of US tariffs on industrial and agricultural sectors, and to stimulate the economy.
About NT$100 billion of the special budget would be earmarked for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told a news conference yesterday.
It represents the latest efforts by the government to lend a hand to the state-owned utility company, after legislators failed to endorse a NT$100 billion capital injection plan for Taipower.
Taipower is under mounting pressure to raise electricity rates to address massive losses of NT$420 billion accumulated through the end of last year.
The new funding would help stabilize the nation’s consumer prices, and shield Taiwanese industries and the broader economy from the potential effects of global economic shocks, Cho said.
Photo: CNA
In addition, about NT$150 billion of the special budget would be earmarked to bolster Taiwan’s national security, such as strengthening coast guard operations, developing uncrewed aerial vehicle infrastructure, and upgrading information and communications systems and facilities, Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
About NT$167 billion would go toward financing social safety net programs, the Cabinet added.
It said it plans to use the government’s fiscal surplus to fund the special budget, although the proposed bill would allow for borrowing if necessary.
As the government has accumulated NT$358.9 billion in fiscal surplus over eight years as of last year, it does not plan to raise new debt, Cho said.
The budget is subject to the legislature’s approval.
The special budget would allow the Cabinet to allocate NT$410 billion in addition to its annual general budgets over the 33 months to the end of 2027 from March 12, the Cabinet said.
Even after the legislature approves the bill, the Cabinet would have to propose special budget plans and obtain the legislature’s permission to use the NT$410 billion.
The special budget would help push GDP growth to 2.9 percent or higher this year, based on an IMF estimate, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said.
Taiwan’s economy is facing major risks amid global financial uncertainty and GDP could grow less than 2 percent year-on-year this year.
Multiple think tanks have slashed their growth forecast by 0.4 percentage points to 1.5 percentage points due to the US’ 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced on imports from Taiwan, despite a 90-day pause.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the
RSS