Premier Cho Jung-tai, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei after a Cabinet meeting yesterday. It has been more than four months since the Executive Yuan submitted this year’s general budget to the legislature, but it has yet to be reviewed, Cho said. The Ministry of National Defense would face the greatest funding shortfall of NT$75.2 billion, Cho said. The general budget is the foundation of democratic governance and essential to meeting public needs, Cho said, calling on the legislature to expedite the review. The stalled budget would negatively affect economic growth, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said.
