TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Saturday (Dec. 31) the government would study how to use NT$380 billion ($12.39 billion) for the benefit of the economy and of its citizens amid signs of an economic slowdown during the upcoming year.

The National Security Council (NSC) met Saturday for the second time this week, as last Tuesday (Dec. 27) it decided to extend compulsory military service from four months to one year beginning in 2024.

Saturday’s meeting focused on economic issues, with Tsai saying NT$100 billion could be used to plug losses in the labor insurance and health insurance systems, and to assign to state-run Taiwan Power Company as a subsidy to make up for lower energy prices, UDN reported.

A second slice of NT$100 billion could be used in a program to make the economy more resilient in the face of global inflation. Meanwhile, the remaining NT$180 billion could be shared with the public in a way that still had to be studied, Tsai said.

The president told the NSC the government’s four aims should be reducing the economic burden of the public, stabilize inflation, adjusting the business framework, and maintaining the country’s economic drive.

The government arrived at the figure of NT$380 billion by subtracting NT$70 billion destined for local governments from the NT$450 billion of tax revenue estimated by the Ministry of Finance for 2022.

Conclusions of Saturday’s NSC meeting included improvements to housing policies, support for public transportation, care for the weaker members of society, the modernization of small and medium enterprises, including providing assistance with the reduction of carbon emissions, help for the fishing and farming sectors, attracting 6 million tourists to Taiwan during 2023, and stabilizing prices, according to a Presidential Office news release.