Thai Commerce Minister says govt needs 180 billion baht to pay rice farmers

[falangadang]

thats only a drop in the bucket ,thaksin could pay that by himself

especially if his wealth has increased by 450% as estimated in

the years hes been away from thailand

Agreed,.. not that he would likely be at all willing but can you imagine the massive PR boost if he did? They might even pardon previous grievances and welcome him back with open arms!

Quick,.. someone send this thread link to Robert Amsterdam and get those juggernaut PR wheels a rollin' ;-)

[Merlins]

6 billion dollars?

dam_n...

That about the same amount of deficit US have per every two days...

[Ricardo]

..a drop in the ocean relative to reserves ( not that I support the scheme as structured)

You like TS cannot get your mind's off Thailand's foreign reserves, why is that?

Because some people like to raise the speculation that Thailand cannot meet its debts. It can...plenty of reserves, a healthy bottom line, even in the context of some bad policies. This not like the govts following the last coup...they ran mega deficits of hundreds of billions of Baht

So why the need to borrow, directly or via the government-owned/backed BAAC, these relatively-trivial sums ?

And why the need for a 2.2 trillion Baht 50-year loan, to fund the infrastructure-plan, either ?

Why not just fund these things out of tax-income or those reserves ?

Is it inability or merely incompetence on PTP's part ?

Edited January 22, 2014 by Ricardo

[mrtoad]

They are desperate for the monies, to fund their cronies and also pay off votes.

[IDL]

Why didn't the government organise the money for payments BEFORE they called an election? It's not like they didn't know they would need it. A lot of it was due in October.

Simple. It'll be used as a bargaining chip: vote me in, and I'll get you the money back!

[JRSoul]

Do these people have no shame? How do you stand before the people you supposedly represent and say we need B180 billion MORE to cover the losses of our corrupt policy?

[GAZZPA]

It's all crumbling down now. It really had no where else to go. Whilst the government were stock piling more and more rice without selling it, clearly there would be no money in the kitty to pay for the next crop.

It's a bit like a pyramid scheme.. The AG bank invests the money, the farmers get an amazing price for their rice (too good to be true some may say), a chunk of money is creamed off the top somewhere in the process (allegedly) and eventually there is no money to continue. The AG bank need the money back, the farmers want paying but there is no money and the pile of rice that is there is worth far less then owed (or predicted to be worth).

And like all pyramid scheme who suffer? The poor guy of course. The farmers are shouting for payment, this is only beginning of the problem for the poor farmers. what will happen to the farmers next crop when the government have to sell the rice at market rates to pay back the bank? It's coming, it has to come sooner or later or the bank could collapse? All of the farmers new crop will be competing with the old crop that the government need to sell.

So, as the old crop is a monumental stock pile that will take years to shift what will happen to the rice industry in Thailand? It doesn't look pretty.

I feel so sorry for the 4 to 5 million households that are going to feel this pain. It's a disgrace and the instigators behind this clearly flakey scheme should be held 100% accountable,, I hope it gets to that place and I hope some bright spark figures a way out of this mess without the farmers being lumbered.

[GAZZPA]

..a drop in the ocean relative to reserves ( not that I support the scheme as structured)

You like TS cannot get your mind's off Thailand's foreign reserves, why is that?

Because some people like to raise the speculation that Thailand cannot meet its debts. It can...plenty of reserves, a healthy bottom line, even in the context of some bad policies. This not like the govts following the last coup...they ran mega deficits of hundreds of billions of Baht

So why the need to borrow, directly or via the government-owned/backed BAAC, these relatively-trivial sums ?

And why the need for a 2.2 trillion Baht 50-year loan, to fund the infrastructure-plan, either ?

Why not just fund these things out of tax-income or those reserves ?

Is it inability or merely incompetence on PTP's part ?

Effectively the whole rice scam has been a great big game of gambling. The government bought the rice with money borrowed from the agriculture bank predicting that the global future price of rice would rise based upon their own actions (so they paid the farmers inflated rates, or so it is claimed). It didn't work. I don't believe that they can use tax payers money to pay this money back, I am sure there are legal issues with this. I am surprised the scheme was legal in the first place to be honest.

[Old Man River]

..a drop in the ocean relative to reserves ( not that I support the scheme as structured)

I just can't understand why they don't have the money to hand, or at least contingency arrangements to cover a shortfall. It's hard to believe their planning is *that* bad.

agree...but they can't sell the rice...no cash

They can sell it, but from what I've read, it's on books at original cost. It looks like they wanted to do gov't to gov't deals, which made sense, but apparently there may have been delays.

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