Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday gave a report to the Legislative Yuan on the central government’s budget for fiscal year 2019, saying that the total expenditures estimate stands at NT$2.2 trillion (US$71 billion) — an increase of NT$55.1 billion, or 2.8 percent, compared with fiscal year 2018.
It is the first time that the nation’s annual expenditure has exceed NT$2 trillion, he said.
Annual expenditures are focused on expanding infrastructure and investments; Internet development and innovations; national defense and the New Southbound Policy; reinforcing Internet security; fostering better education environments; balancing city and county development; and the sustainable development of annual funds, Lai said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The government has allocated NT$392.7 billion for public construction investment, a 7.7 percent increase from 2018, Lai said.
The government has budgeted NT$39.8 billion to help industries pursue innovation and increase the competitive edge of Taiwanese businesses, as well as NT$22.1 billion for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, specifically for the program’s involvement in such endeavors.
An itemized list for all infrastructure expenditures includes NT$6.7 billion for the “Asia Silicon Valley” Project; NT$4.2 billion for the Industry 4.0 project; NT$7.4 billion for green energy technology; NT$10.1 billion for biological medicine industry development; NT$6.1 billion for development of innovative agriculture; NT$2.1 billion for the circular economy project; NT$16.2 billion for the promotion of the digital economy; NT$400 million for innovative cultural technology; NT$2.1 billion for chip design and semiconductor technology; NT$2.2 billion for building infrastructure for the national defense industry; and NT$3.8 billion for other innovative industries, Lai said.
The Ministry of National Defense budgeted NT$346 billion for national defense in fiscal year 2019, an increase of NT$18.3 billion, or 5.6 percent, compared with fiscal year 2018, Lai said, adding that the funding is allocated primarily for domestically produced military hardware, military maintenance, and research and development.
The government’s New Southbound Policy has budgeted NT$7 billion, with the primary fund comprising NT$3.1 billion and NT$3.9 billion allocated to for-profit and nonprofit special funds respectively, Lai said.
NT$36.9 billion is being budgeted for declining birth rate issues, an increase of NT$1.6 billion, or 81 percent, compared with fiscal year 2018, he said.
The government has budgeted NT$147.8 billion for the retirement funds of military personnel, civil servants and teachers, a decrease of NT$5.9 billion compared with fiscal year 2018, Lai said.
Central government funding to subsidize local governments has been budgeted at NT$16.6 billion — an increase of 3.1 percent compared with fiscal year 2018, he said.
Regarding the second phase of special budgeting for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the allotted budget stands at NT$227.5 billion, with NT$12 billion going toward green energy; NT$27 billion going to digital infrastructure; NT$59 billion going to hydroengineering; NT$22 billion dedicated to railway tracks; NT$73 billion to infrastructure for cities and townships; NT$600 million to food safety; and NT$10 billion to fostering talent and employment services, Lai said.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
RSS