Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Tuesday said he will instruct all Cabinet ministries to respond to the Legislature’s call that they submit proposals to unfreeze portions of their respective budgets for 2025.
Speaking to reporters before a Legislative hearing, Cho expressed the hope that the Legislative Yuan will “unfreeze all budgets” as soon as possible so that the Executive Yuan can proceed with its normal operations.
According to the premier, the funding freezes by the Legislature consist of a total of 1,584 items estimated at NT$138.1 billion (US$4.25 billion).
In its original budget plan, the Cabinet earmarked NT$3.1 trillion in government spending, but opposition lawmakers cut roughly NT$207 billion from the budget request and froze another NT$138.1 billion, pending actions taken by government agencies.
Cho was commenting on the issue as lawmakers have been questioning why various ministries under the Cabinet had yet to submit their proposals to the Legislative Yuan.
Cho said the delays were due to the different circumstances each ministry faced, including the fact that many of them have yet to meet the thresholds for unfreezing funds in their budgets.
Budget freezes can be divided into three categories. The biggest one, with 1,162 items totaling NT$15.4 billion, consists of spending categories whose funds can be instantly unlocked once a proposal is submitted, Cho said.
The second requires the submission of a special report, and funds can only be released after the report has been reviewed by the legislature, Cho said.
There are 373 items totaling NT$36.6 billion in this category, the premier said.
The third category, meanwhile, has 49 items estimated at NT$86.1 billion, which in itself is broken down into three other parts that require various procedures before they can be unfrozen.
