Easing restrictions on Chinese investment in the stock market will be a policy priority for the coming year, a package of policy guidelines approved by the Cabinet on Thursday showed.
Under the guidelines, the government will gradually allow Chinese investment in the local bourse and set up a monitoring mechanism to oversee financial exchanges across the Strait.
Meanwhile, laws will be amended to facilitate local financial institutions’ investments and business expansion in China.
The government will also encourage foreign companies, including overseas Taiwanese firms, to list on the local stock exchange to enhance the country’s international competitiveness.
The measures are part of the government’s goal of building the nation into a regional financial operations center in the Asia-Pacific region, the Cabinet said.
The Cabinet has also approved plans for a NT$125 billion (US$4 billion) budget deficit next year as it increases spending on economic development initiatives.
Total outlays will climb 6.9 percent to NT$1.83 trillion, while income will be 5.2 percent higher than this year at NT$1.71 trillion, the Cabinet’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said in a statement on Thursday night.
This year’s deficit is estimated to widen to NT$236.4 billion from NT$183.7 billion, because of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) plans for additional government spending, DGBAS section chief Rebecca Hsu said by phone yesterday.
Science and education, at 18.7 percent, will account for the largest proportion of next year’s spending.
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