Thailand's think tank: Govt cornered to dead-end on rice scheme
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, Feb 5 – The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has said the controversial rice subsidy scheme has reached a dead-end and urged the government to urgently sell rice in its stocks to get money to pay farmers.

TDRI president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said the rice pledging scheme was bankrupt from the start because the government bought rice at high price but sold the grain at cheap price.

The government lacked an accounting system and the financial burden was as high as Bt124 billion while it is expected to earn only Bt10-15 billion from rice trading this year, he said.

The TDRI president said problems arising from the rice scheme were beyond liquidity crisis, adding that the government had paid Bt700 billion between 2011 and 2013 to purchase rice from farmers but earned only Bt150 billion.

The government is short of Bt500 billion while the two-year rice programme has wreaked havoc on the Thai economy and destroyed the rice trading system, said Dr Somkiat.

Ammar Siamwalla, TDRI distinguished scholar, described the rice subsidy programme as “corruption with receipts” and “gigantic corruption racket.”

It is a political party’s populism policy to win over voters in the short term but damaged the country’s economy in the long term, he said.

He said the government’s assets, its rice in stock, are abundant but it could go bankrupt if it keeps the rice for too long, or until the quality drops.

The government’s only solution is to urgently sell the rice to make money to pay farmers, said Dr Ammar, adding that the government should recover some of the corruption money from rice sales to contribute to payments to farmers.

TDRI distinguished fellow Nipon Poapongsakorn said Thailand’s rice export status will plunge lower if the government insists on continuing the rice pledging programme, and such a move will pave the way for Vietnam and India to become rice export leaders in the global market. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-02-05

Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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What I find most interesting is that nobody is really saying who has pocketed all the money

from this insane corrupt program......Middle men are vaguely alluded to, and that is about

all we get. But one thing we know for sure, the farmers do not have the money. :-)

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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The tax payer, of course. Thaksin and his minions are not going to give back any of the money they have swindled, a lifetime looking at the same four walls would be the least they deserve.

The British government managed to trace much of Khun Ts off-shore accounts, and freeze many of his assets. I wonder why the NACC can't find the current PTT culprit's accounts?

What I find most interesting is that nobody is really saying who has pocketed all the money

from this insane corrupt program......Middle men are vaguely alluded to, and that is about

all we get. But one thing we know for sure, the farmers do not have the money. :-)

Yeah it's the middle men who concocted this dire policy... and the middleman like the rabble rousing mysterious third hand will be investigated.

Don't hold your breath.

The British government managed to trace much of Khun Ts off-shore accounts, and freeze many of his assets. I wonder why the NACC can't find the current PTT culprit's accounts?

They didn't look in the pastry boxes...

TDRI distinguished scholar

TDRI distinguished fellow

But are they as distinguished as the PM and her distinguished caddie?

who cares about the price of rice in thailand dam_n thaivisa is getting more boring by the day what happened to updates about cool stuff not just politics and rice.

There are more topics on TV. Maybe there is one that interests you about cool stuff... If you don't care about this topic you could just stay away.

Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

It ranks with ' Military Intelligence ' as the biggest oxymoron in the English language.

It's an oxymoron. Thai "think tank."

Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

It ranks with ' Military Intelligence ' as the biggest oxymoron in the English language.

can we add Police Investigation and make it a hatrick ?

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

Thailand's Think Tank? One word comes to mind, oxymoron.

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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$Big T$.jpg

I don't think anybody is blaming Thaksin for this utter horlicks his rice scam has been. He was not to know that Cambodia,Burma,Vietnam,India, and other rice producing nations would not also with-hold their entire countries production to help out his Phua Thai in their scam. Even if other countries had helped he would still have had to stop potato farmers worldwide to cease production as well as pasta and noodle manufacturers, to stop a substitute for rice being available. In fact, anybody that earned a fortune form insider knowledge and corrupt activities should be excused for having no knowledge whatsoever about supply/demand and economic principles. It is not Thaksin's fault, any other criminal could have made the same mistake.

Who will pay the bill for these heinous crimes?

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$Big T$.jpg

I don't think anybody is blaming Thaksin for this utter horlicks his rice scam has been. He was not to know that Cambodia,Burma,Vietnam,India, and other rice producing nations would not also with-hold their entire countries production to help out his Phua Thai in their scam. Even if other countries had helped he would still have had to stop potato farmers worldwide to cease production as well as pasta and noodle manufacturers, to stop a substitute for rice being available. In fact, anybody that earned a fortune form insider knowledge and corrupt activities should be excused for having no knowledge whatsoever about supply/demand and economic principles. It is not Thaksin's fault, any other criminal could have made the same mistake.

That's an insult to Horlicks!!!

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As these irrefutable statistics greet the cold light of day, there is no escaping the fact that this programme has been among the most corrupt of it's kind anywhere in the world. Those at the top of the rung profited the most - as they were intended to - while the whole industry collapsed, as personal gain was placed front and centre above the national interest and Thailand's standing as the world's premiere exporter of rice - something that now is but a distance memory for generations to come. This Pheu Thai administration - in two and a half short years - has brought the country to financial ruin. It has sullied the professional reputation of its credit, and it has created a mutiny of opposition from within the country - from the people on the streets, from the banks, and from the farmers themselves. It will be the instrument that brings down this administration. It was inevitable, though, that before that happened, that it would reach a point where it would be stripped of its power to forge ahead with this particular addiction to massive graft. It has reached that point now. Without a parliamentary mandate, without the sanction of the EC, amidst an impeachment investigation by the NACC, and finally resistance from the banks themselves in a reflex of pure instinctual self-survival - this administration has been thrown involuntarily into a detox room, while the rest of the country now prepares to go forward and tries to heal from the experience that this party has wrecked on the country.

Nobody will buy this old stock piled rotting rice even at a discounted sales rate less than half the current world rice market. Let alone at Inflated prices.

Hey, they were democratically elected criminals who have lined their pockets and bought their election with taxpayers' money, and it's a god-given number one human right for them to be elected again to shaft the country further.

Why ask post # 6

Posted Today, 10:50

The British government managed to trace much of Khun Ts off-shore accounts, and freeze many of his assets. I wonder why the NACC can't find the current PTT culprit's accounts?

There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see. None so deaf as those who do not wish to hear. None so silent as those who do not wish to speak. However we all know money talks.

Edited February 5, 201412 yr by siampolee

It is a real shame. This rice scan is much worse than what I initially though of.

I am wondering how soon the government will announce the names of the criminals who knowingly stole the money.

They all should get proper jail time.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the criminals will be properly punished.

They might escape from Thailand just like the big boss in Dubai did.

Is Yingluck clean? We all wonder how she is going to handle this.

The British government managed to trace much of Khun Ts off-shore accounts, and freeze many of his assets. I wonder why the NACC can't find the current PTT culprit's accounts?

They didn't look in the pastry boxes...

Shouldn't that be 'rice boxes'?

Edit: rice bags..

Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

You are new to Thailand. TDRI is excellent. If you really want to know what is going on, you read them. If you don't care..

Your decision.

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As these irrefutable statistics greet the cold light of day, there is no escaping the fact that this programme has been among the most corrupt of it's kind anywhere in the world. Those at the top of the rung profited the most - as they were intended to - while the whole industry collapsed, as personal gain was placed front and centre above the national interest and Thailand's standing as the world's premiere exporter of rice - something that now is but a distance memory for generations to come. This Pheu Thai administration - in two and a half short years - has brought the country to financial ruin. It has sullied the professional reputation of its credit, and it has created a mutiny of opposition from within the country - from the people on the streets, from the banks, and from the farmers themselves. It will be the instrument that brings down this administration. It was inevitable, though, that before that happened, that it would reach a point where it would be stripped of its power to forge ahead with this particular addiction to massive graft. It has reached that point now. Without a parliamentary mandate, without the sanction of the EC, amidst an impeachment investigation by the NACC, and finally resistance from the banks themselves in a reflex of pure instinctual self-survival - this administration has been thrown involuntarily into a detox room, while the rest of the country now prepares to go forward and tries to heal from the experience that this party has wrecked on the country.

"Come In Agent Big Brother Mission Accomplished Return To Base Eternal Brother Out."

It is a real shame. This rice scan is much worse than what I initially though of.

I am wondering how soon the government will announce the names of the criminals who knowingly stole the money.

They all should get proper jail time.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the criminals will be properly punished.

They might escape from Thailand just like the big boss in Dubai did.

Is Yingluck clean? We all wonder how she is going to handle this.

They cant announce the names as it is the government itself that stole the money. I hope the NACC gets enough proof to charge the government and disband it for once and all maybe some jail-time for some of its members and of course the one who chaired it is fully responsible.. I believe that was Yinluck.

Is Yingluck clean?

That can't be a serious question. She is up to her pretty little neck in the family business

I guess the fat lady has started to sing

It is a real shame. This rice scan is much worse than what I initially though of.

I am wondering how soon the government will announce the names of the criminals who knowingly stole the money.

They all should get proper jail time.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the criminals will be properly punished.

They might escape from Thailand just like the big boss in Dubai did.

Is Yingluck clean? We all wonder how she is going to handle this.

The government announce the names? Are you serious? The courts are already announcing the names. Follow the courts.

Is Yingluck relatively clean? Maybe, but then she selected all the members of the rice committee, 15 of which have already been indicted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). In addition she did, allegedly, continue the rice program (which helped the PTP get elected), although it was obvious it was costing the country a lot of money (The World Bank's estimations are staggering).

It comes down to if people or governments believe in democracy, then they should follow the checks and balances the court's present.

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Part of the difficultly may be in the way it worked... Is the guy who owns the w/h being paid by the gov to store the rice doing anything illegal?

Granted it may be found that the rate is a little bit high and that for what ever reason only friends of TPT seemed to get contracts, but still hard to prove corruption...

Same thing will trucks transporting the rice... Companies packing the rice, security companies providing guards for w/h, etc...

There are many ways to siphon money out that would be hard to prove corruption...

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