Economics officials paid a visit to opposition lawmakers yesterday to win support for two supplementary budget proposals aimed at funding two job-creation programs.
The legislative caucuses are slated to decide the fate of the budget requests on Feb. 27 after Premier Yu Shyi-kun gives an address and answers questions on the spending plan.
Ho Mei-yueh (
Under the agreement, the Cabinet would no longer insist on tagging the two funding plans as special budgets. But it would be allowed to issue government bonds to finance the NT$50 billion public construction program -- one of the two job-creation measures.
If put into practice, the public construction program would help expand domestic demand and push up economic growth by 0.38 percent this year, Ho said.
To that end, Ho said all materials to be used on some 99 planned public works will be purchased at home.
Opposition lawmakers have refused to review the program on the grounds that it is crudely drawn. The other measure, which will provide one-year work programs for unemployed people in public sectors, has cleared the legislature.
KMT legislative leader Liu Cheng-hung (
"In light of their nature and small scale, those projects can not help stimulate the economy," he said.
Rather, Liu suggested the Cabinet spend the bulk of the budget on importing technical know-how from abroad to help local industries upgrade and boost the overall economy.
PFP legislative leader Chiu Yi (邱毅) said he failed to see any improvement in the budget proposal.
But Ho said it is unrealistic to expect short-term economic measures to contain large, complicated investment plans.
Both measures will expire one year later. Together they are expected to generate 115,000 temporary job opportunities.
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