Stable electricity prices are important to Taiwan’s industrial base, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today, defending the special budget’s NT$100 billion (US$3.11 billion) subsidy for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
On Thursday last week, the Executive Yuan passed a NT$410 billion special budget seeking to comprehensively respond to US tariffs and increase the country’s economic, social and security resilience.
Yesterday, Cho met with the legislative caucuses of all three major political parties to rally support for the NT$410 billion special budget, but faced pushback from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) regarding the Taipower subsidy.
Photo: Lo Pei-te, Taipei Times
Prior to a Legislative Yuan meeting today, Cho thanked lawmakers for their time at the previous day’s meeting and answered questions about the special budget.
Cho and President William Lai (賴清德) have heard from industry leaders that stable electricity prices are a major concern, the premier said, adding that companies are seeking to avoid the “double shock” of tariffs and rising electricity rates.
The NT$100 billion subsidy would help Taipower deal with mounting losses — which reached NT$420 billion as of the end of last year — to enable the utility to consider social welfare and stability as part of its rate discussions, Cho said.
Hopefully, the opposition parties can understand industry’s concerns, he added.
The special budget is divided into three parts: national security, social welfare measures, and economic support for industry and employment.
The budget allocates funds to help vulnerable groups who would be negatively affected by the ongoing global economic situation, subsidies for low-income households and to repair aging homes, he said.
Cho said he hopes opposition parties can see that the special budget responds to the needs of industry, offers benefits for disadvantaged groups and would improve the country’s competitiveness.
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