Taiwan's government plans to sell a 40 per cent stake in the state-owned Land Bank in an initial public offering to raise T$40bn (US$1.2bn) for reconstruction efforts, following the island's worst natural disaster in a decade.
The proposed stake sale, which still has to be approved by the legislature, would provide some relief to Taipei's increasingly stretched finances. The government was facing one of its biggest budget deficits in recent years even before typhoon Morakot devastated the island's southern region this month.
President Ma Ying-jeou, defending the government from criticism that its initial rescue efforts were slow and disorderly, last week asked the legislature to approve an additional T$100bn in government spending for post-Morakot relief and reconstruction.