The particular armed forces yesterday defended their budget plans for the next fiscal year against criticism of improper investing.
Testifying before a House panel scrutinising defence budget allocations as part of vetting the national budget, top armed forces commanders and Defence Ministry officials insisted that they had fixed costs to pay for and are required to always maintain sufficient forces just for national security.
“The Ministry of Defence will be well aware of the particular country’s limited budget, so it is trying to prioritise the purchase of weapons and other military hardware while implementing a defence business development plan, inch said Gen Worakiat Ratananant, permanent secretary for defence.
The House panel was examining the particular 197. 2-billion-baht protection budget proposed for your next fiscal yr starting in October.
In reality, Gen Worakiat said the ministry provides received a smaller spending budget since the 2021 fiscal year when the ministry’s fund accounted for 6. 55% of the whole national budget.
That amount dropped to six. 51% for the current fiscal year and is expected to be six. 19% in the next fiscal year.
While the defence budget approved for the current fiscal year accounts for 1 . 22% of the country’s gross household product (GDP), the amount requested for the coming fiscal year amounts to only 1 . 10% of the estimated GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, he said.
These decreases in budget arrive as the global protection budget has risen by 2 . one trillion baht. A global rise is likely to continue due to demand for weapons, powered by conflicts across the globe.
“The defence budget is not high at all particularly when you take into consideration the armed forces’ tasks, ” Gen Worakiat said.
“The defence spending budget may not be for boosting the economy, but it is a necessary investment within security, ” he or she added.
Gen Chalermpol Srisawat, chief of the defence forces, meanwhile, insisted on safeguarding the particular confidentiality of the alleged secret budget worth 469. 9 million baht. He has been responding to a question simply by Parit Wacharasindhu, a House committee member through the Move Forward Party.
The armed forces are responsible for maintaining enough forces to protect national sovereignty, as stated within Section 52 of the constitution and the regulation on the Ministry of Defence’s civil regulations, the general said.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, another member of the home committee, meanwhile demanded an explanation to a declare that the armed forces were allegedly spending huge amounts on renting Mercedes-Benz S500 and S400 vehicles for an overall of 36 mature officers.