Su defends stimulus voucher system for its turbulent launch 數位五倍券綁定狀況多 蘇揆稱再精進

Presenter: There have been nonstop debates and discussions since the introduction of the quintuple stimulus vouchers. Premier Su Tseng-chang promised to work on a more stable registration system. Meanwhile, the national debt per capita has increased to NT$249,000.

Su Tseng-chang, Premier: “We see that 13 million people accessed the quintuple stimulus vouchers website, and 2.5 million successfully bound their vouchers. It crashed because so many people accessed the website at the same time.”

Sept. 22 was the first day that people could bind their digital quintuple stimulus vouchers. The government website handling the binding crashed, leading to complaints. Opposition parties pointed out the government spent NT$970 million on the system, only for it to crash immediately. On Sept. 23, Premier Su Tseng-chang responded that 2.5 million people were able to bind their vouchers and the system will be improved. He also said he intends to bind his digital vouchers. Meanwhile, there are concerns that digital vouchers won't be spent at night markets or small businesses.

Wang Mei-hua, Economic Affairs Minister:”We're working with night markets to go digital because QR codes can be used. As for small and medium enterprises, we have a market in the cloud. This is a mechanism where digital businesses can find over 200 companies at a time and help everyone become digitized.”

People can begin making reservations for paper vouchers on Sept. 25, and there are fears that the chaos will be repeated all over again. Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang said the proper measures will absolutely be taken. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics forecasted this year's growth rate at 5.88 percent, which would be an 11-year high. Su said that the government's decision not to charge people NT$1,000 for the quintuple stimulus vouchers will help the economy to grow, benefitting everyone. A report on the Executive Yuan's financial relief 5.0 special budget was delivered to the legislature. The additional NT$160 billion budget includes NT$18.9 billion to increase COVID-19 testing capabilities, establish screening stations in communities, and handle vaccination. Legislators asked why last year's special budget only included funds to develop vaccines and nothing to procure vaccines.

Chen Shih-chung, Health and Welfare Minister:”The timing of the budget to procure vaccines was of course later, because we weren't in an epidemic situation at that time. That's why later on we budgeted NT$41.1 billion. Next year, there will also be this expense in the official budget.”

A report issued by the legislature's Budget Center said the central government's procurement budget for new fighters, the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, and financial relief special budgets are primarily financed by debt, causing the per capita debt burden to skyrocket by NT$22,000 to NT$249,000 in a period of just two years and eight months.

行政院長 蘇貞昌：「我們看到有1300萬人進入五倍券的網站，有250萬人完成綁定，因為大量短時間的同時湧入，產生的當機問題，也都要注意。」

數位五倍券綁定22號才上路第一天，就造成網頁大塞車，不只引發民怨，在野黨更質疑政府砸9.7億元系統營運費卻換來當機，對此，行政院長蘇貞昌23號回應，已有250萬人完成綁定，會持續精進系統，也透露自己會綁定數位五倍券。至於數位五倍券就怕夜市或小商家吃不到，也引起討論。

經濟部長 王美花：「夜市來輔導他們使用數位，因為用OR CODE就可以，那另外我們中小企業有一個雲市集，這樣一個機制，就是讓這個數位業者也可以一次要找200家以上，然後讓大家可以來提高數位的使用。」

對於紙本五倍券25號開放預約，就怕再出現當機亂象，行政院政務委員唐鳳表示，一定會妥善因應。主計總處預測今年經濟成長率可望達到5.88%，創下11年來新高，蘇貞昌強調，透過五倍券免收1000元，讓經濟成長果實與全民共享。至於行政院「紓困5.0」追加預算案報告，也送抵立法院，追編1600億中，有189億要提升檢驗量能、設置社區篩檢站、辦理疫苗施打等，但為何去年特別預算只編列研發疫苗經費，沒有採購疫苗費用，引起立委質疑。

衛福部長 陳時中：「在疫苗採購，當然編的時間比較晚，但是因為那時候還沒有疫情，所以後來我們總共編了411億，那明年也有公務預算來執行這部分。」

立法院預算中心評估報告指出，中央編列新式戰機採購、前瞻基礎建設計畫、紓困振興等特別預算，財源大多仰賴舉債，導致每位國人的國債負擔，2年8個月以來增加2.2萬元，攀升到24.9萬元。