Collection beats target by 3.3%

The government’s revenue collection got off to a strong start in fiscal 2019, outpacing October’s target by 3.3%.

The government garnered 206 billion baht, exceeding the target by 6.65 billion baht and rising 10.5 billion or 5.3% from a year earlier, said Lavaron Sangsnit, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesperson of the Finance Ministry.

The higher than targeted revenue collection was attributed to an increase in remittances from state enterprises.

State enterprises in October sent 21.5 billion baht, 62.1% more than a year ago, surpassing the target by 6.14 billion, or 12.3%.

The three tax-collecting agencies — the Revenue Department, Excise Department and Customs Department — managed to collect 6.54 billion baht or 4.3% above the target in October.

However, on an annual basis their revenue collection was 5.41 billion baht or 4.3% lower than the same period last year.

The Revenue Department and other agencies collected 6.73 billion baht and 5.92 billion, or 5.8% and 32.5%, respectively, higher than the same period last year. Their revenue collection surpassed the target by 5.64 billion baht and 1.92 billion, or 4.8% and 8.6%, respectively.

Value-added tax, tobacco tax and auto taxes contributed to the higher revenue collection.

The government set annual budget expenditure of 3 trillion baht for fiscal 2019 and revenue collection of 2.55 trillion, leaving a deficit of 450 billion.

Mr Lavaron said the government’s budget disbursement amounted to 468 billion baht last month. The government borrowed money to offset a deficit of 33.7 billion baht in October, resulting in a balance of 381 billion in treasury reserves at the end of the month.

Chanvit Nakburee, deputy director of the State Enterprise Policy Office, recently said the state enterprise investment budget disbursement rate will hit 89% if 100 billion baht is drawn down in the final two months this year.

The government has used public and state enterprise investment to drive the country’s economy over the past few years.