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Amendments address income inequality
Six economic reforms will be enacted ahead of the general election in an effort to reduce income inequality, says a key panel.
Six economic reforms will be enacted ahead of next year’s general election in an effort to reduce income inequality, says the head of an economic committee.
Prasarn Trairatvorakul, chairman of the committee on economic reform, said the reforms should implemented within eight months. Among other things, the reforms will upgrade community enterprises into corporations to strengthen community businesses.
On May 8, the cabinet approved a draft bill to amend the community enterprise law of 2005. The Council of State is now reading the related draft bills and plans to propose them to the National Legislative Assembly.
The draft bill says community enterprises that have operated for at least one year can file a request to become corporations. Under that organisation, they can own assets and enjoy government tax privileges. Community enterprises registered as corporations can also own intellectual property.
The amendment requires participation from government agencies that have community enterprise promotion committees.
Mr Prasarn said the second reform is intended to help communities establish community development financial institutions.
On Feb 6, the cabinet passed a Finance Ministry proposal to approve the draft bill on community development finance institutions.
The draft bill is also expected to narrow income disparity by curbing loan sharks and promoting communal sustainability.
The government expects each tambon to have one or two finance institutions — 3,500-70,000 nationwide — that can provide 20-30 million people access to capital.
The third reform aims to establish an office to oversee income inequality.
Mr Prasarn said the government has allocated funds to narrow the income gap and reduce project overlap among government agencies.
The economic reform committee has proposed establishing an agency to integrate a budget earmarked for income disparity.
He said the office will be established under the supervision of the National Economic and Social Development Board.
The government’s budget to battle poverty and disparity was 332.6 billion baht for fiscal 2018 and will climb 19.5% to 397.5 billion baht for fiscal 2019.
The three remaining reforms will address e-government, improvement of economic law and the promotion of smart farming through high technology and research and development.
The Prime Minister’s Office minister said the committee to drive social and economic reform, chaired by Kobsak Pootrakool, should name agencies to take responsibility for the six agenda items to ensure the reform is implemented according to schedule.