Budget spending passes target by 2%

Disbursement set to outstrip 2016 pace

Budget disbursement surpassed the target by almost 2% for the seven months to April, adding to signs that the withdrawal rate will meet this fiscal year’s target of 92.9%.

For the October-to-April period, government agencies managed to dole out 1.65 trillion baht or 60.5% of the annual budget expenditure, exceeding the target by 1.94% and rising 0.86% over the same period a year ago, said Oranuch Vainusit, spokesman for the Comptroller General’s Department.

She said that 1.44 trillion baht in regular expenditures was taken out during the seven months to April, representing 65.9% of the 2.18-trillion-baht regular budget.

Also, 213 billion baht worth of investment budget was drawn down, accounting for 45.8% of the 464-billion investment budget.

The disbursed investment budget, excluding the 190-billion-baht mid-year budget, was 4.73 percentage points higher than in the same period last year.

The government has set budget expenditure of 2.73 trillion baht for this fiscal year.

Mrs Oranuch said that 44 billion baht or 81.1% of the 54-billion-baht budget for small-scale investment across the country had been drawn down.

“The Comptroller General’s Department is ready to supervise and monitor budget disbursement for the remaining five months of the 2017 fiscal year to reach the target,” she said.

“We expect the budget will be disbursed at a higher pace than in the previous year.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said that the budget for the government’s welfare subsidies will continue to increase as more will be given to the needy.

For instance, the government is set to give cash handouts to low-income earners to cover basic needs at the Commerce Ministry’s low-cost Blue Flag shops.

The government now spends 30 billion baht a year on blanket assistance, including free rides on public buses and trains and utilities such as electricity and tap water, for those at the bottom end of the economic ladder.

The government is also seeking ways to boost the income for those 4 million people living below the poverty line, he said.

Thailand’s poverty line is set at 30,000 baht a year or 2,500 per month.

Moreover, the Finance Ministry has considered raising the living allowance range for senior citizens from 600-1,000 baht a month to 1,200-1,500 to raise their standard of living.

The number of registrants for the government’s welfare and subsidy scheme through the national e-payment system in this year’s round surged by more than 50% year-on-year to 13.5 million after the sign-up process closed on Monday.

There were 8.27 million registrants for the scheme last year, but 1.3 million of them were later deemed unqualified.

The ministry’s criteria for this year requires applicants to be unemployed or have had an annual income of 100,000 baht or less last year to receive aid under the programme.

They must also have savings, bonds and savings certificates worth less than 100,000 baht.

If applicants own property, the space must not exceed 35 square metres for a condo unit, 25 square wah for a townhouse or 10 rai for agricultural purposes.

Applicants must be Thai nationals aged 18 and above.