Time for the B3.48 trillion prepare to be implemented
The 3.48 trillion bass budget bill for governmental 2024 was criticized by the criticism on Wednesday, who also complained about its probable incompetence and the ambiguous language used to describe its spending targets.
Additionally, it stated that the government’s ability to fully stimulate the economy as it hopes appears to be limited by the almost five months left to adopt the investing plan.
The governmental year will end on September 30 after starting on October 1.
2.53 trillion baht of the complete budget—72.8 % of total planned spending—is set aside for fixed state monthly expenses.
A further 118.36 billion baht ( 3.4 % ) has been set aside to increase treasury reserves, 717.72 billion ( 3.6 % ) for investment spending, and 116.32 billion ( 4.3 % ) for loan repayment. 7.23 billion baht of the mortgage repayments are for money for purchases in state enterprises.
Speaking following a presentation by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin outlining the specifics of the 2024 fiscal budget and spending plan, opposition leader and Move Forward Party ( MFP ) leader Chaithawat Tulathon compared the speech to one given by former premier Prayut Chan-o-cha the previous year.
According to Mr. Chaithawat,” They were exactly the same– brilliantly worded but very broad, abstract, dreadfully disorganized and lacking any sense of prioritization and somewhat vague.”
He claimed that after carefully examining the specifics of the funds spending, he was unable to identify any specific metrics that could be used to gauge how effective each ministry’s planned spending is at the end of each fiscal year.
Even worse, he claimed that the ministers ‘ spending plans are at odds with the government’s policies and that what were supposed to be new tasks requiring a new budget are actually old ones that they were already carrying out.
He remarked,” It’s just ancient wine in new jars.”
The 2024 governmental budget costs is jam-packed with parts of this and that, to sum it up. It lacks strategies and a distinct destination and is disorganized. If you look within, nothing really aligns with the government’s laws, he continued.” It may seem fine if judged by its support.
Every budget is said to be set aside for new purchases, the majority of which are for funding a new path that is marketed as the “magic solution” to all of the government’s development plans. However, how? He enquired.
The government would likely only have 40 % of the full time to employ the resources, so it might not have the expected economic stimulus result, according to a number of other opposition MPs who participated in the conversation on Wednesday, the first of three days. As a “lame duck,” they slammed the act.
The Ministry of Justice has asserted that its Department of Corrections needs a larger budget to enhance inmate care in order to meet international standards, but the government’s treatment of convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra—who has been permitted to get treatment outside of prison for more than four weeks without providing an adequate justification—remains opaque, according to Mr. Chaithawat.
It was also criticized that the Pheu Thai-led government’s premier program, the 10, 000 ringgit digital money handout, also lacked clearness as to where the 500 billion baht in funding would come from, especially if the government is unable to complete a second bill allowing it to use this sizeable sum.
Mr. Srettha expressed confidence that Thailand’s economy would grow between 2.7 % and 3.7 % this year as predicted during his presentation of the proposed spending in the new budget bill.