EC allows Thai govt to use Bt20bn from central fund to pay farmers

[tx22cb]

Why the sudden U-turn by the EC on the 20bn & also the election?

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

The EC has not made a U-turn on the election - just a change of velocity.

The EC has always had a mandate of organising the elections.

When Suthep wanted to hinder the 2 Feb elections, the EC dragged their feet for as much and as long as they dared.

However, since 2 Feb, Suthep has abandoned his anti-election policy - instead targeting the rice scheme, and then (when the majority of the farmers spurned his help) targeting perceived enemy businesses.

Hence the EC are miffed that they are left holding the election "parcel" on their own - not part of the original deal.

With not enough PDRC supporters to disrupt further elections, the EC have no further excuse to rest their feet on the brakes.

[rubl]

It's still shuffling money around. It was said the government wanted to sell rice to have money to pay farmers and it would take till the end of the year or so before enough money could be found. Now 20 billion Baht need to be returned first. Maybe some wishful thinking as "we will win the election and with a mandate we can do again; thank you go home"?

[Suriya4]

"Somchai said the government promised that the Bt20 billion would be borrowed from the central fund, not just taken from it."

If the Government promised, rest assured, that they are saying the truth and they will repay the money in unspecified time.

Good that the farmers will get some money, but in the meantime other sectors will start suffering from the lack of funds.

A vicious circle, that there is no exit for the foreseeable future.

It is a trap laid by EC.

There is no way the acting government to repay back 20 billion, hence Yingluck will have to go to jail.

[rubl]

"Somchai said the government promised that the Bt20 billion would be borrowed from the central fund, not just taken from it."

If the Government promised, rest assured, that they are saying the truth and they will repay the money in unspecified time.

Good that the farmers will get some money, but in the meantime other sectors will start suffering from the lack of funds.

A vicious circle, that there is no exit for the foreseeable future.

It is a trap laid by EC.

There is no way the acting government to repay back 20 billion, hence Yingluck will have to go to jail.

Well, if there is no way the caretaker government can repay those 20 billion by the end of May then it would suggest that the caretaker government agreeing on those conditions is telling porkies, wouldn't you say?

BTW who submitted the government's plan for approval? I assume it had all the 'right' signatures?

Edited March 4, 2014 by rubl

[SOTIRIOS]

......this.....is....perverse......

[kimamey]

Well that's good news for the farmers. Let's hope it gets repaid although I won't be surprised if there's a delay. We need another 30 days... and another... and another.

Of course if it doesn't get repaid we can blame the EC for not realising their duty is to be biased against the PTP government.

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date??? Ye'p the very same person that so often Suthep and Dem supporters say,

What did Thaksin ever do for Thailand, you get that question answered and then you quickly and conveniently forget it.

But hey you could be right, it may well take longer to repay???

I don't know what you're getting your knickers in a twist for.

I think it's great the farmers are getting paid and I've always said something should be done to help them. the 30 days was a reference to the fact that the government as it then was had been asked by the ombudsman to explain why they gave Thaksin his passport back but they kept asking for another 30 days and as far as I know he's still waiting which suggests they don't think they've got a convincing argument.

Did Yingluck repay the IMF loan before the due date? I don't think so. I think Thaksin's government did but what's that got to do with it? You're not suggesting he's got anything to do with running the government are you. He wasn't elected so it would be undemocratic if he did and that's the sort of thing the Democrats do.

you get that question answered and then you quickly and conveniently forget it.

I haven't conveniently forgotten anything that's relevant to the OP. I do think you might have forgotten to take you medication though.

[kimamey]

Well that's good news for the farmers. Let's hope it gets repaid although I won't be surprised if there's a delay. We need another 30 days... and another... and another.

Of course if it doesn't get repaid we can blame the EC for not realising their duty is to be biased against the PTP government.

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date??? Ye'p the very same person that so often Suthep and Dem supporters say,

What did Thaksin ever do for Thailand, you get that question answered and then you quickly and conveniently forget it.

But hey you could be right, it may well take longer to repay???

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date???

You betcha and according to the Puyai Ban here he paid it off with his own personal money.

Makes you wonder why he isn't paying the farmers doesn't it.

[PepperMe]

What changed from a few weeks ago?

Somchai is on a 5% cut.

[PepperMe]

Will somebody please explain what an election commission is doing approving a rice subsidy or anything else other than an election?

Obviously certain people have got to the commission eventually. Leverage via threats of being charged for dereliction of duty couple with some nice 'under the table' brown envelope incentives.

I personally knew there would be a day when they succumbed to temptation, they are Thai after all.

[jayjayjayjay]

It's funny, cos the USA are holding over 20 miion tons of wheat right now, far more than the Thai rice stock pile. This is a good program that does help grass root people. It's corrupt just as every other deal in Thailand involving civil sevice. Funny how it is just a political football and a program that will be lost because of the games all are playing. And not for a minute do I think Abhisit/Suthep would clean it up any better than it is run now... That's why I love Thailand. Keep everyone poor so we can enjoy keeping them down. Other than that, I still wonder what the 24% of the workforce who are government workers would do if they did not have corruption to play with every day!!!!

Edited March 4, 2014 by jayjayjayjay

[rickirs]

So after five months of throwing every kind of roadblock in front of the government to pay the farmers, including third party loans, the EC now says the government can use its own central funds to finance the rice sales and pay the farmers. Coincidentally right after the final elections ended. It's not like the central fund just showed up on someone's doorstep like an abandoned baby needing a home, its been there all along crying for attention. EC should be investigated for being one (and some might say among others) of the most inept independent Thai agencies there is.

[davidstipek]

"Somchai said the government promised that the Bt20 billion would be borrowed from the central fund, not just taken from it."

If the Government promised, rest assured, that they are saying the truth and they will repay the money in unspecified time.

Good that the farmers will get some money, but in the meantime other sectors will start suffering from the lack of funds.

A vicious circle, that there is no exit for the foreseeable future.

Remember the Movie.... right now we could all use his line of Thinking.... "Just pay it, it's Owed... Then we can sit back....

[tomacht8]

They could close also this CMPO.
CMPO have a Budget from 20 Billion Baht.
Why not better pay the farmers with this Budget?

Edited March 4, 2014 by tomacht8

[JesseFrank]

Well that's good news for the farmers. Let's hope it gets repaid although I won't be surprised if there's a delay. We need another 30 days... and another... and another.

Of course if it doesn't get repaid we can blame the EC for not realising their duty is to be biased against the PTP government.

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date??? Ye'p the very same person that so often Suthep and Dem supporters say,

What did Thaksin ever do for Thailand, you get that question answered and then you quickly and conveniently forget it.

But hey you could be right, it may well take longer to repay???

Now if you want to make yourself sound interesting, you better do some research before you post nonsense, because you get some egg on your face.

Thaksin paid back the IMF with a loan from Singapore, because he didn't want the IMF look in the books, as that would have revealed right away how he was scamming the Thai population.

[northernjohn]

"Somchai said the government promised that the Bt20 billion would be borrowed from the central fund, not just taken from it."

If the Government promised, rest assured, that they are saying the truth and they will repay the money in unspecified time.

Good that the farmers will get some money, but in the meantime other sectors will start suffering from the lack of funds.

A vicious circle, that there is no exit for the foreseeable future.

Well I have a few mixed feelings on this. Will they be around to pay it?

I do feel glad to see some money coming to the farmers but it is still Only about 16% or 17% of the money owed to the farmers.

Who is going to get it? What about the other farmers? The government has not always been honest in their dealings with the farmers.

I do have one reservation and it shouldn't bother me but it does.

If the farmers are so desperate why did they not support the anti government protestors. They drove tractors and farm vehicles to Bangkok from distant locations and did nothing they just turned around and went home. How much does it cost to drive a tractor from Issan to Bangkok and back?

If they are as hard up as they claim to be where did the money come from?

In my opinion they will probably be the ones getting the 20 billion baht.

While those who honestly tried to face Yingluck will have to wait.

At least it is a sizeable start.

[moonao]

No reason given in the article why the EC decided to release funds now instead of before.

But the farmers know the reason - political. Nice try by the yellow shirt EC but completely backfired on them, and the farmers know this. Next election they will help to vote the shins in again.

[billd766]

Great some of the farmers will get some of the money they are owed.

But hang on the foreign trade Dept now has to sell enough rice by the end of May to repay this loan (with interest?)

So how much rice do they have to sell, well according to ORYZA web site the best they could hope for is the price of high quality Thai long grain rice at US$ 450 per ton FOB.

Thats about 14,400 B per ton at 32 b to $. Allowing for the costs of FOB say 14,000 B per ton.

Now I need someone who speaks fluent mathematics, but anyway my in the head calculation (guess) is that they need to sell around 1500 tons a day in the time they have to repay the loan.

That's in best case but I see speculation that they will be getting around 8,000 for the rice they hope to sell.

OK someone come up with proper numbers.

Well according to my calculator to repay 20,000,000,000 baht at 14,000 baht per ton they need to sell around 1,428,571 tons of rice in 87 days or around 16,420 tons per DAY for 7 days a week AND have the cash in hand assuming there will be no interest charges.

I could be wrong with the numbers but I don't think so.

Scarey isn't it?

[billd766]

Well that's good news for the farmers. Let's hope it gets repaid although I won't be surprised if there's a delay. We need another 30 days... and another... and another.

Of course if it doesn't get repaid we can blame the EC for not realising their duty is to be biased against the PTP government.

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date??? Ye'p the very same person that so often Suthep and Dem supporters say,

What did Thaksin ever do for Thailand, you get that question answered and then you quickly and conveniently forget it.

But hey you could be right, it may well take longer to repay???

And just who do you think repaid the IMF before the due date???

You betcha and according to the Puyai Ban here he paid it off with his own personal money.

It is true that Thaksins government did pay off the IMF loan early (though not from his personal fortune).

It was paid with the money that the Democrats managed to save with their austerity budgets that they HAD to bring in due to the 2 previous governments incompetence. Those governments were led by Chavalit Yongchaiyud and Banharn Silpa Archa and yes Thaksin was a minister in both governments. Now wasn't that a surprise?

[Robby nz]

If I understand correctly this loan is different because it is one Government ministry borrowing from another ministry budget but with a condition imposed by the EC that the loan be repaid in full by 31st May.

In other words it is shuffling money around that has already been budgeted and therefore imposes no new obligation on an incoming Govt.

The other question of whether the loan would improve any parties chances in an election, the EC has said it would not so OK.

It should be noted that while the commerce ministry are under an obligation to repay the loan they have also given a promise to the farmers to pay them, that is pay them over and above the loan amount .

That being the case the CM has to sell not only enough rice to repay the loan but also an added amount to pay the farmers.

Does not sound likely.

[northernjohn]

Great some of the farmers will get some of the money they are owed.

But hang on the foreign trade Dept now has to sell enough rice by the end of May to repay this loan (with interest?)

So how much rice do they have to sell, well according to ORYZA web site the best they could hope for is the price of high quality Thai long grain rice at US$ 450 per ton FOB.

Thats about 14,400 B per ton at 32 b to $. Allowing for the costs of FOB say 14,000 B per ton.

Now I need someone who speaks fluent mathematics, but anyway my in the head calculation (guess) is that they need to sell around 1500 tons a day in the time they have to repay the loan.

That's in best case but I see speculation that they will be getting around 8,000 for the rice they hope to sell.

OK someone come up with proper numbers.

Well according to my calculator to repay 20,000,000,000 baht at 14,000 baht per ton they need to sell around 1,428,571 tons of rice in 87 days or around 16,420 tons per DAY for 7 days a week AND have the cash in hand assuming there will be no interest charges.

I could be wrong with the numbers but I don't think so.

Scarey isn't it?

Not being a man of finance but is not 30 day hold backs on payments common practice.

If so that would put them 30 days behind payments to the farmers on accomplishing the prodigious feats they claim.

[kikoman]

No reason given in the article why the EC decided to release funds now instead of before.

But the farmers know the reason - political. Nice try by the yellow shirt EC but completely backfired on them, and the farmers know this. Next election they will help to vote the shins in again.

Your right the farmers knows who made them suffer for the past 3 months, the only office that can ok a loan is the EC, has always been that way when a caretaker government is in office!

The EC is responsible since PTP became a care taker government but the EC tried to make political gains in hope the farmers would turned against the government, they did not the EC weas left holding the bag.

Come election time the farmer will remember!

Cheers

[kikoman]

Great some of the farmers will get some of the money they are owed.

But hang on the foreign trade Dept now has to sell enough rice by the end of May to repay this loan (with interest?)

So how much rice do they have to sell, well according to ORYZA web site the best they could hope for is the price of high quality Thai long grain rice at US$ 450 per ton FOB.

Thats about 14,400 B per ton at 32 b to $. Allowing for the costs of FOB say 14,000 B per ton.

Now I need someone who speaks fluent mathematics, but anyway my in the head calculation (guess) is that they need to sell around 1500 tons a day in the time they have to repay the loan.

That's in best case but I see speculation that they will be getting around 8,000 for the rice they hope to sell.

OK someone come up with proper numbers.

Well according to my calculator to repay 20,000,000,000 baht at 14,000 baht per ton they need to sell around 1,428,571 tons of rice in 87 days or around 16,420 tons per DAY for 7 days a week AND have the cash in hand assuming there will be no interest charges.

I could be wrong with the numbers but I don't think so.

Scarey isn't it?

Where did you get the figure of 14,400 baht per ton?

In the village the farmers got 11,00 baht per ton in November 2013 paid the earlier part of this year, The 15,000 baht figure was for top quality Jasmine rice (which no one is allowed to grow here), in our neck of the woods the highest price was paid at 12,000 baht per ton and the average received was 11,000 baht per ton depending on the quality of the rice, some villagers received 9000 baht/ ton for poorer quality rice.

Have not heard anyone getting 14,400 baht a ton and we are not that far from your area!

Cheers

[kikoman]

Now I see where you got the 14,400 baht per ton from!

But that is not the price the farmers are receiving that is the international price for rice which is still selling for a $100 per ton more then the farmers are getting paid for growing the rice! almost a 25% middleman price hike!

[Davidhere]

Come election time the farmer will remember!

Cheers

Especially if at the time they are still listening to the 73rd promise of being paid "next week".

[Crushdepth]

No reason given in the article why the EC decided to release funds now instead of before.

But the farmers know the reason - political. Nice try by the yellow shirt EC but completely backfired on them, and the farmers know this. Next election they will help to vote the shins in again.

Your right the farmers knows who made them suffer for the past 3 months, the only office that can ok a loan is the EC, has always been that way when a caretaker government is in office!

The EC is responsible since PTP became a care taker government but the EC tried to make political gains in hope the farmers would turned against the government, they did not the EC weas left holding the bag.

Come election time the farmer will remember!

Cheers

More rubbish. As you are entirely aware, caretaker governments are not allowed to burden the incoming government with debt, and they are also not allowed to introduce policies or use state resources that would influence the election result. Obviously, taking out loans to meet an election promise fails both of those tests.

Call me when the EC loses the next election

[robblok]

Great some of the farmers will get some of the money they are owed.

But hang on the foreign trade Dept now has to sell enough rice by the end of May to repay this loan (with interest?)

So how much rice do they have to sell, well according to ORYZA web site the best they could hope for is the price of high quality Thai long grain rice at US$ 450 per ton FOB.

Thats about 14,400 B per ton at 32 b to $. Allowing for the costs of FOB say 14,000 B per ton.

Now I need someone who speaks fluent mathematics, but anyway my in the head calculation (guess) is that they need to sell around 1500 tons a day in the time they have to repay the loan.

That's in best case but I see speculation that they will be getting around 8,000 for the rice they hope to sell.

OK someone come up with proper numbers.

Well according to my calculator to repay 20,000,000,000 baht at 14,000 baht per ton they need to sell around 1,428,571 tons of rice in 87 days or around 16,420 tons per DAY for 7 days a week AND have the cash in hand assuming there will be no interest charges.

I could be wrong with the numbers but I don't think so.

Scarey isn't it?

Where did you get the figure of 14,400 baht per ton?

In the village the farmers got 11,00 baht per ton in November 2013 paid the earlier part of this year, The 15,000 baht figure was for top quality Jasmine rice (which no one is allowed to grow here), in our neck of the woods the highest price was paid at 12,000 baht per ton and the average received was 11,000 baht per ton depending on the quality of the rice, some villagers received 9000 baht/ ton for poorer quality rice.

Have not heard anyone getting 14,400 baht a ton and we are not that far from your area!

Cheers

Kikoman,

I wonder if you can read at all and if you are able to think for yourself. Probably no on both counts. Even I as a non native speaker can read this.

He is talking about how much the government must sell to get the money needed to repay that loan in the time allotted. That has nothing to do with how much the farmers got for their rice.

I now understand why you make such crazy claims all the time you can't read well and copy and past stuff from red websites without reading what you post.

[kikoman]

No reason given in the article why the EC decided to release funds now instead of before.

But the farmers know the reason - political. Nice try by the yellow shirt EC but completely backfired on them, and the farmers know this. Next election they will help to vote the shins in again.

Your right the farmers knows who made them suffer for the past 3 months, the only office that can ok a loan is the EC, has always been that way when a caretaker government is in office!

The EC is responsible since PTP became a care taker government but the EC tried to make political gains in hope the farmers would turned against the government, they did not the EC weas left holding the bag.

Come election time the farmer will remember!

Cheers

More rubbish. As you are entirely aware, caretaker governments are not allowed to burden the incoming government with debt, and they are also not allowed to introduce policies or use state resources that would influence the election result. Obviously, taking out loans to meet an election promise fails both of those tests.

Call me when the EC loses the next election

The post was responding to a poster who stated the farmers would remember, who made them suffer the EC did, but only on the order of the ammart, and I was agreeing with his opinion that the farmers will vote the Shin in again.

Is not a big secret who ever supports the farmers and who does not, the ones that support the farmers will be elected. When they do I have a lot more enjoyable things to do then to call you, like getting a root canal!

Cheers

Edited March 5, 2014 by kikoman

[kikoman]

Great some of the farmers will get some of the money they are owed.

But hang on the foreign trade Dept now has to sell enough rice by the end of May to repay this loan (with interest?)

So how much rice do they have to sell, well according to ORYZA web site the best they could hope for is the price of high quality Thai long grain rice at US$ 450 per ton FOB.

Thats about 14,400 B per ton at 32 b to $. Allowing for the costs of FOB say 14,000 B per ton.

Now I need someone who speaks fluent mathematics, but anyway my in the head calculation (guess) is that they need to sell around 1500 tons a day in the time they have to repay the loan.

That's in best case but I see speculation that they will be getting around 8,000 for the rice they hope to sell.

OK someone come up with proper numbers.

Well according to my calculator to repay 20,000,000,000 baht at 14,000 baht per ton they need to sell around 1,428,571 tons of rice in 87 days or around 16,420 tons per DAY for 7 days a week AND have the cash in hand assuming there will be no interest charges.

I could be wrong with the numbers but I don't think so.

Scarey isn't it?

Where did you get the figure of 14,400 baht per ton?

In the village the farmers got 11,00 baht per ton in November 2013 paid the earlier part of this year, The 15,000 baht figure was for top quality Jasmine rice (which no one is allowed to grow here), in our neck of the woods the highest price was paid at 12,000 baht per ton and the average received was 11,000 baht per ton depending on the quality of the rice, some villagers received 9000 baht/ ton for poorer quality rice.

Have not heard anyone getting 14,400 baht a ton and we are not that far from your area!

Cheers

Kikoman,

I wonder if you can read at all and if you are able to think for yourself. Probably no on both counts. Even I as a non native speaker can read this.

He is talking about how much the government must sell to get the money needed to repay that loan in the time allotted. That has nothing to do with how much the farmers got for their rice.

I now understand why you make such crazy claims all the time you can't read well and copy and past stuff from red websites without reading what you post.

Well from one non native speaker to another, I could careless what you think, if you have a problem with my post address that if it is within your limited capabilities to do so, what you think personally is of no concern of mine!

The thread addresses the EC allows the government to use the 20 billion to pay farmers, should not be to hard to understand!

Edited March 5, 2014 by kikoman

[Rob8891]

Equally, it shouldn't be too hard for some poster to comprehend the need to work out how much rice must be sold (and at what price) in order raise the cash to pay the farmers.... Maybe that's wishful thinking and it really is too difficult for some.

Anyway, don't let logic and simple facts get in the way of party dogma.