Taiwan’s Cabinet says this year’s stimulus spending vouchers will come in denominations of up to NT$1,000 (US$36). Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng also said on Thursday that the government hopes to encourage people to choose digital vouchers over paper.
Right now, the government is finalizing plans for a scheme that would allow people to exchange NT$1,000 (US$36) for NT$5,000 (US$180) in vouchers. It says vouchers will come in denominations of NT$1,000, NT$500, and NT$200.
Lo says the government still has not set a date to launch the scheme. He says the timing is highly dependent on the severity of Taiwan’s COVID-19 outbreak. Lo says it would be unwise to encourage consumer spending if the outbreak gets worse.
One lawmaker from Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the KMT, says the scheme could cost up to NT$13.65 billion (US$491.7 million). But Lo says that is not true. He says last year’s scheme cost a little over NT$2.7 billion (US$72 million), and that this year’s scheme should have similar administrative costs.