TAIPEI: Taiwan's 2010 budget is to undergo a "cabinet" review, following last week's extensive government reshuffle, "Premier" Wu Den-yih said in a statement yesterday.

The change is because of the government reshuffle and as a response to the public's hopes that the government may tighten spending, Wu said in the statement.

Wu took office September 10 after the resignation of "former Premier" Liu Chao-shiuan and his "cabinet" over what was widely considered the poor handling of the devastation following Taiwan's deadliest typhoon in half a century. The storm left more than 600 people dead and caused NT$110 billion ($3.4 billion) of damage.

In August, the former "cabinet" had approved a government budget deficit of NT$187.80 billion for 2010; economic stimulus spending of NT$149.16 billion as part of a four-year, NT$500 billion plan; and NT$120 billion for typhoon reconstruction through 2012.

In the press briefing on the decision yesterday, Su Jun-pin, head of the Government Information Office, said that the Executive Yuan decided to retract the three budgets out of respect for legislators and public opinion.

The "cabinet" is expected to approve the new budget at its meeting next week, before submitting it to the legislature for final approval, Su said.

"The amounts for these budgets may not be the same. They will be adjusted," he added.

Su also introduced a series of austerity measures for the government agencies in yesterday's press briefing.

Government agencies are required to adopt measures such as scrutinizing overtime pay for employees, slashing spending on business trips, gifts and banquets, implementing energy-saving methods, canceling non-urgent seminar and training programs, and retaining equipment that has passed its normal working life but is still usable.

Considering the revenues losses from the weak economy and the extra expenditure for disaster rescue and relief, the government needs to cut all unnecessary spending to balance the budget, he said.

He stressed that the budget will be tightened on the principle that it won't affect either the economic recovery or the reconstruction in the disaster-stricken areas.

Agencies

(HK Edition 09/18/2009 page2)