Taiwan's government is adding a large supplementary budget this year, mostly to cushion people from the fallout of the Middle East conflict and to strengthen the military — good for defense contractors, farmers, and public workers, but it pushes government borrowing higher.

• The cabinet plans an extra NT$607.6 billion in spending on top of this year's budget.
• The three biggest items are a capital injection into state oil and gas firm CPC Corp, money to keep living costs stable during the Middle East conflict, and weapons plus higher pay for military personnel.
• The Middle East conflict is the main trigger, since Taiwan moved to hold down oil, gas, and electricity prices and steady supplies of raw materials.
• Smaller amounts go to higher payments for elderly farmers and other welfare programs, raises for teachers and civil servants, disaster rebuilding in Hualien, and African swine fever measures backdated to July 1.
• Extra defense money also fills gaps left after lawmakers cut items from a special bill on defense resilience.

Outlook: The gap between money coming in and going out will be covered by new borrowing, which stays within the limit already set in the original budget.