Urgent cabinet meeting called to discuss budget

BANGKOK: -- Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called a special cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss the need to speed up government spending on urgent projects in an effort to stimulate the country’s economy.

The meeting will focus on stepping up the government’s spending during the remaining three months of this current fiscal year. Some government agencies have not yet spent the allocated funds on planned projects.

The government now plans to transfer unspent budget funds to other projects considered more urgent to help drive the country’s economy.

The government has spent more than a trillion baht so far this fiscal year. This is less than 60 percent of the funds available.

The government has spent some 64 percent of the total budget for the current fiscal year, up to the middle of June. Out of the Bt752 billion spent, Bt617 billion was on fixed expenses and the remaining Bt135 billion on investment.

--TNA 2005-06-26

Govt to spend more to stimulate economy

BANGKOK: -- The government plans to spend more than 500 billion baht in the coming months to help stimulate the economy.

A hundred billion baht will be taken from the budget for the current fiscal year and the rest from unspent funds from 2003 and 2004 budgets, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Somkid Jatusripitak told journalists before Sunday’s special cabinet meeting.

Another 300 billion baht would come from the state enterprises, he said.

So far more than some 60% of the 1.25 trillion baht budget for the current fiscal year has been spent.

The government has approved several projects in the country’s southern border provinces, but the private sector remains reluctant to invest in the region because of the violence, the deputy Finance Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said.

The government has deployed soldiers to protect construction projects in the area from possible insurgent attacks and should be completed on schedule, Mr. Varathep said.

--TNA 2005-06-26