The Cabinet yesterday approved the government’s annual budget for next year, which projects revenues of NT$1.7295 trillion (US$59.84 billion) and expenditures of NT$1.939 trillion.
The figures represent a 5.1 percent and 8.4 percent increase from this year respectively, the -Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said.
The draft proposal for defense spending stood at NT$309.6 billion, accounting for 16 percent of the country’s annual spending for the next fiscal year, the same percentage as this year, according to data from the government. The draft defense budget also marked the first time the country’s defense budget has risen on a year-on-year basis since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to office. Defense spending this year was NT$286.3 billion.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) said the defense budget increase came mainly because of the need to increase the head count for military officers and sergeants to reach the goal of a full-scale voluntary conscription system by 2014.
Despite the increase, Ma, in the last year of his first term, failed to deliver on a campaign promise to invest no less than 3 percent of the country’s GDP in national defense.
The DGBAS said NT$388.1 billion would be earmarked for the Ministry of National Defense (MND).
The NT$388.1 billion was composed of NT$309.6 billion in defense spending, NT$7.9 billion in the ministry’s research, environmental and subsidy programs, and NT$70.6 billion in three funds operated by the ministry and to be used in the reconstruction of military dormitories and military camps and arms production by the Bureau of Armament and Acquisition.
In the past three years under the Ma administration, defense spending in broad terms — including the ministry’s regular budget and the three funds — accounted for between 2.5 percent and 2.6 percent of GDP on average, MND spokesman David Lo (羅紹和) said.
The country’s defense spending drafted by the Ma administration has steadily declined for three consecutive years, from NT$315.2 billion in 2009 to NT$288.7 billion last year, and to NT$278.2 billion this year, government data showed.
In the draft annual budget for next year, NT$407.2 billion was earmarked for social welfare, taking up the largest share of spending, with an increase of 10.6 percent compared with this year, accounting for 21 percent of total spending.
The second-largest portion of the budget after social welfare was educational, scientific and cultural spending, at NT$367.4 billion, or 18.9 percent. In third place was the defense budget.
Budget allotment for economic development projects was NT$276.6 billion, or 14.3 percent, an increase of 26.1 percent from this year, in sharp contrast to the NT$18.3 billion, or 0.9 percent, allotted for community development and environmental protection.
However, the budget earmarked for community development and environmental protection saw the largest increase compared with this year, NT$7.2 billion, a rise of 155 percent.
Also in the budget was NT$187 billion for general spending, NT$138.7 billion for retirement subsidies, NT$130.1 billion for debt spending and NT$104.1 billion for general subsidies and other expenses.
The government’s fiscal shortfall was NT$209.5 billion, which was an increase of NT$66.9 billion compared with this year.
Shih said the government planned to take out NT$288.5 billion in loans, accounting for 14.9 percent of annual spending, and make use of an annual surplus of NT$15 billion to cover the shortfall and NT$94 billion needed to amortize debt.
If special budgets are taken into account, the government’s fiscal shortfall decreased by 33.1 percent to NT$114.6 billion, the third consecutive decline, she said.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit
HOSPITAL VISITS: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi pledged to give the families of the four people who died NT$11m each and provide support for staff working at the time The central government would assist local governments to enhance public safety, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as he visited people in hospital who were injured in an explosion at a department store in Taichung on Thursday. A suspected gas explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang department store in Taichung at 11:33am on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 36. Of the 40 casualties, 39 were hospitalized, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed. Three died after out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the data showed. As of 6am yesterday, 25 of those injured had been discharged from hospital, leaving 11