Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/14
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) Taiwan’s government debt and future government obligations have reached nearly NT$24 trillion (US$774 billion), which could impose a heavy financial burden on Taiwan, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER,台灣經濟研究院) said Tuesday.

The TIER, one of Taiwan’s leading think tanks, said public debt accumulated by the central and local governments stood at NT$5.25 trillion and NT$731.2 billion, respectively, as of the end of 2014, according to Ministry of Finance statistics.

The total debt — NT$5.99 trillion — was 37.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2014, approaching the average of 40.6 percent ceiling imposed by the Public Debt Act in the previous three years before 2014, TIER President Lin Chien-fu (林建甫) told reporters.     [FULL  STORY]