The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a NT$210 billion (US$7.11 billion) budget proposal for COVID-19 relief, with NT$137.5 billion earmarked for economic stimulus for sectors hit hard by the pandemic.
Under the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Recovery (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) the government was authorized — depending on developments amid the pandemic — to issue a second stimulus budget that does not exceed the first one, which in April had its cap increased to NT$210 billion.
The second budget was proposed because the nation’s export-oriented manufacturing industry has suffered due to a weak global economy, while the tourism and transportation industries need more relief due to restrictions on inbound visitors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The increase would be funded entirely by borrowing, the DGBAS said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs would receive the largest slice, NT$137.5 billion, of which NT$38.2 billion would be used to offset a shortage of funds for the Triple Stimulus Vouchers; NT$45 billion would be to guarantee loans companies had taken out; and NT$37.8 billion would cover salaries and operational costs of businesses in service, trade, exhibition, manufacturing and manufacturing-related industries, the DGBAS said.
The Triple Stimulus Vouchers cost NT$51.1 billion, it said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare would be given NT$37.4 billion, including NT$2 billion for research and development of COVID-19 vaccines; NT$11.6 billion for purchasing such vaccines; NT$12 billion in bonuses and reimbursements to personnel involved in disease prevention; and NT$5.3 billion for the government’s response to the pandemic, the proposal showed.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications would receive NT$9.8 billion, including NT$6.8 billion to subsidize salaries for travel agency employees, tour guides and stores at international airports; NT$2 billion for airports to cover shortfalls in landing and royalty fees; NT$400 million for transportation companies that carried people from airports after they were ordered into quarantine; and NT$200 million to hotels enlisted by local governments to accommodate people ordered into isolation, it showed.
The Council of Agriculture would receive NT$19.1 billion, including NT$18.4 billion in subsidies for fishers and NT$400 million to cover losses sustained by the seafood industry, it showed.
The duration of the budget for disease prevention has been extended, with the deadline moved from December to June next year, DGBAS Department of General Fund Director-General Chang Wei-ming (張惟明) said.
Subsidies for salaries in industries overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would be extended from the end of the third quarter to the end of the year, officials said.
The budget request is to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that due to the budget request, a second extraordinary session seems inevitable.
The extraordinary session would likely begin after the Aug. 15 Kaohsiung mayoral by-election, Ker said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS