In an attempt to boost economic activity, the government has failed to address the nation's financial woes as manifested in sliding revenues and rising public debt, a top audit official noted yesterday.
Su Chen-ping (蘇振平), auditor-general of the Ministry of Audit under the Control Yuan, said the nation's finances need to be remedied immediately as tax revenue now accounts for less than 55 percent of the government's total annual spending.
Su made the remarks yesterday while briefing the legislature on the government's fiscal performance for last year and the first half of this year.
"Altogether, public debt that is one-year old or older amounts to NT$2.35 trillion," the auditor-general said. "Though the audit ministry has repeatedly pointed out this issue, the government has done little about it."
During the same period, Taiwan's unemployment rate has jumped, while the economic growth rate contracted by 1.91 percent, Su said. He added that export volume plunged 17.2 percent, with imports down by 23 percent.
The figures, along with a weaker New Taiwan dollar -- which has depreciated by 11 percent against the greenback since the beginning of this year -- and lower private investment, down 26 percent, all hit record lows in 10 years, Su said.
In addition, he noted that administrative red tape has slowed down efforts to reconstruct quake-affected areas in the wake of the 921 earthquake.
Official statistics show that the government has used only NT$45.6 billion, or less than 50 percent of the NT$100 billion already appropriated by the central bank for executing various aid programs.
"Related agencies should better coordinate with each other to speed up the rebuilding process," Su urged.
He said that the existence of 95 non-performing funds has contributed to a continual rise in public debt.
"I agree that some of them should be abolished or merged, if possible, to help ease the financial burden on state coffers," Su said, taking questions from TSU lawmaker Chien-Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君).
According to Chien-Lin, those non-performing funds have incurred a loss of NT$603 billion as of the end of last year, or a per capita debt of NT$28,000.
Lawmakers of all stripes have frowned on the funds, which they say are used by different government agencies as extra treasuries in order to circumvent legislative oversight.
Su's ministry has no jurisdiction over the fate of those funds, however.
He ranked the ministries of transportation and communications and national defense as the two least-effective agencies when it comes to fulfilling their spending plans.
The former has yet to spend NT$42.6 billion it proposed for fiscal 2001 and the latter NT$39.2 billion for the same period.
Su also recommended the government promptly collect taxes and fines owed by local governments and private citizens.
"The Cabinet has placed great emphasis on this issue, but your supervision, I believe, will help speed up the process," Su told lawmakers.
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