The Cabinet’s special budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program will not create excessive public debt, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said in an interview last week with the Central News Agency.
The special budget would be subject to the debt and borrowing limits set forth in the Public Debt Act (公共債務法), just like the government’s annual budget, although previous administrations followed a different policy, Lin said in the interview on Wednesday last week, the news agency reported yesterday.
Some people have voiced strong opposition to the special budget plan because they still think that special budgets allow the government to bypass the Public Debt Act, creating more leeway to borrow money and burdening future generations with debt, he said.
“We are trying to set a good example for the nation’s finances,” he said. “It does not matter even if we cannot win the public’s understanding. This is a price worth paying.”
According to the act, the maximum ratio of accumulated debt cannot exceed 40 percent of the average GDP of the previous three years.
Under the Special Act on the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program (前瞻基礎建設特別條例) that lawmakers passed last month, the Cabinet is to spend up to NT$420 billion (US$13.9 billion) over the next four years on infrastructure.
The first stage of implementation is budgeted at NT$108.90 billion, and is to run from next month to December next year.
As to why the infrastructure development plan is not covered by the government’s annual budget, Lin said that it is better to deal with it using a special budget because the plan is not a regular item.
With a special budget, the government needs to think clearly what goals it wants to achieve within a specific time frame and whether they are feasible, he said.
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