The government will take out a total of NT$429 billion (US$13.4 billion) in loans for the next fiscal year to meet a shortfall in budget revenue, which will bring the nation’s total loans to an all-time high of NT$4.7 trillion, according to a Cabinet official yesterday.
“Although accumulated debt is approaching the cap, we will never exceed that,” Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said when asked if the government planned to revise the Public Debt Act (公共債務法), which sets the combined debt ceiling for the central government at 40 percent of average nominal GNP for the previous three years.
The NT$4.7 trillion loan accounts for 37.79 percent of GNP.
Lee made the remarks at a press conference following a Cabinet meeting during which a draft budget statement for next fiscal year was approved.
The Cabinet projected revenue for next year at NT$1.63 trillion and expenditure at NT$1.78 trillion, increasing from NT$1.55 trillion and NT$1.71 trillion respectively this year.
Of the NT$429 billion in loans, NT$159 billion is to meet the deficit between projected revenue and outlay, NT$60 billion is to pay for debt servicing and the remaining NT$204 billion is a special loan to fund public construction and flood-management projects.
Without the special loan, which is not subject to the debt-raising ceiling, loans to be taken out next year account for 12 percent of the outlay, lower than the cap of 15 percent.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) said the government has earmarked NT$3.2 billion for various activities to be held next year to celebrate the Republic of China’s centenary.
Of the government’s total outlay, spending on education, science and culture leads the pack with NT$357.3 billion, or 20 percent, followed by social welfare spending of NT$346.9 billion, or 19.4 percent, defense at NT$287.2 billion, or 16 percent, and economic development spending at NT$225.9 billion or 12.6 percent.
Defense spending accounted for 2.6 percent of GDP, less than 3 percent as promised previously by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS