IMPLEMENTATION:The lawmakers spoke after a report by the legislature’s Budget Center pointed out that much of the bugeted funding has not been used

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 02, 2017
By: Peng Wan-hsing  /  Staff reporter

The government’s use of its budget for the New Southbound Policy was unsatisfactory this year, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have called for a task force to improve implementation efficiency next year.

An analysis by the legislature’s Budget Center said that of the NT$4.5 billion (US$148.49 million) budgeted for the policy this fiscal year, only about NT$2.55 billion, or 56.3 percent, had been spent by the end of July, while a few agencies had spent more than half their budgets for the policy, which aims to boost the nation’s ties with South and Southeast Asian nations as well as Australia and New Zealand.

A budget of NT$7.19 billion has been earmarked for the policy for the next fiscal year, a 61.6 percent increase over this year.    [FULL  STORY]