Taiwan's Cabinet is expected to propose this year's supplementary central government budget at its Sept. 3 meeting, days after the legislature passed a defense-autonomy and drone industry act on third reading. The package would fund stronger self-defense capabilities, allowance raises for military personnel, civil servants and teachers, and higher payments to elderly farmers and social welfare recipients, CNA reported.
What is in the package? Cabinet spokesperson Lee Hui-chih said the budget was in its final inventory stage and that fixed raises to professional and supervisory allowances would be retroactive to July 1. Increases to the elderly farmers' allowance, the national pension and six social welfare allowances will also be back-paid from July 1, and the benefits of 3.18 million people depend on the supplementary budget, she said. Those benefit increases need about NT$21.5 billion and the allowance raises about NT$10.7 billion, CNA reported. Subsidies responding to the situation in the Middle East, covering fuel, natural gas, household liquefied petroleum gas, domestic flights, bus fares, taxis, fertilizer and fishing, are estimated at more than NT$100 billion. People familiar with the matter said the overall size was still unsettled because changing one item shifts others, with two or three versions sometimes drafted in a single day, and that it is expected to go to the Sept. 3 meeting after the premier is briefed.
How does the drone act fit in? The Cabinet plans to countersign the Kuomintang version of the act and write it into the supplementary budget, the Liberty Times reported. Drone spending could not be compiled in time for next year's general budget, which began reaching the legislature on Aug. 28, so the Cabinet will file an amendment expected to be reviewed alongside it. The act covers littoral surveillance drones, littoral attack drones and small unmanned suicide boats, and whether this year's purchases will be funded through the supplementary budget has drawn attention, CNA reported. The defense ministry has said 10 items left out of a special procurement act and the drone bill, including Strong Bow missiles, are expected to go into the supplementary budget in full.
Why the timing? Lawmakers did not pass this year's general budget until Aug. 14, and the Cabinet had planned to approve the supplementary budget on Aug. 27 before deferring it a week because the legislature was voting on the drone act that day, the Liberty Times reported. The Cabinet would adjust the package according to the result of that vote.
