Thai Commerce Minister: Rice farmers will be paid next week

[webfact]

Commerce Minister: Farmers will be paid next week

BANGKOK 6 March 2014 (NNT) —The Commerce Minister has affirmed that farmers will be paid for their pledged rice next week.

According to Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, the government-to-government rice deal with China will proceed, with Thailand delivering its first batch of 400,000 tons of rice in four months' time; dividing the lot into 100,000 tons per month.

In regard to payments for rice farmers who pledged their rice, the Minister said he expected the proposal to borrow 20 billion baht from the central budget to be given a nod by Friday.

Afterwards, it should take only 2-3 more days to allocate funds to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) in order to be paid to the farmers.

As for rice in the stockpiles, including that from the next harvest season, the Commerce Minister said if the government remained a caretaker one, the rest of the payment could not be paid out, as it would violate Section 181 of the Constitution.


-- NNT 2014-03-06

[Mosha]

A date would mean more.

[Costas2008]

"rice deal with China will proceed, with Thailand delivering its first batch of 400,000 tons of rice in four months' time; dividing the lot into 100,000 tons per month."

"In regard to payments for rice farmers who pledged their rice, the Minister said he expected the proposal to borrow 20 billion baht from the central budget to be given a nod by Friday."

They owe the farmers about 130billion.......from what he said, how is he going to pay them next week?

Edited March 6, 2014 by Costas2008

[animatic]

This is just another stall,

maybe some farmers will get a small fraction of their due monies,

but unlikely to be enough to afford the planting for the next harvest.

There is a difference between getting 'paid' and getting 'paid all you are owed'.

[billd766]

Isn't that what he said last week?

And the week before and the............. at least 7 times.

As for selling rice to China as my old Mum used to say, seeing is believing.

If the PTP want the trust of the people then PROVE the sales are genuine by printing out the contracts including the prices and exactly WHEN the Chinese will pay the money and how much plus where it will go to.

If the caretaker government cannot or will not then they should not be believed or trusted.

[gemini81]

This is just another stall,

maybe some farmers will get a small fraction of their due monies,

but unlikely to be enough to afford the planting for the next harvest.

There is a difference between getting 'paid' and getting 'paid all you are owed'.

Look at the dog scraps throw to victims for flood damage, despite most of that funding 'mysteriously' having gone missing. This will be similar. A small compensation, followed by, 'there we paid you. Done deal.' But with all the mismanagement, her days in office are numbered.

[Bocking]

I thought the latest G2G Deal, was actually a MOU, which is a little way short of a Deal.

Maybe it's enough to borrow Bt 20 billion against?

But, 1 million tonnes of rice at estimate Bt 6,000 per tonne = Bt 6 Billion?

.. even at Bt 15,000 per tonne, it's still Bt 5 billion short of what they're saying.

[slapout]

The caretaker Commerce Minister might as well be "whistling Dixie", it would be more understood than this press release which makes no provision for payment in full to the farmers who are owed monies.

His expertise might as well be included in the caretaker PM's quest to solve the drought problems in the northeat. The odds of ever finding a group of people gathered in single government who have displayed such a wide range of incompentance, is probably a higher numerical figure than the 2 plus trillion baht loan they want to get their hands on.

[Tatsujin]

Does anyone still believe ANYTHING that comes out of their mouths? Endless promises of payments, but have they actually delivered on any (except for the mainly "red" areas of course).

[Nickymaster]

So they finally sold 400,000 mt of the 20,000,000 mt they have in stock. That's a mighty 2%. In 4 deliveries........

[djjamie]

Now when have a heard that before.

December, January, February and now March.

[Mister Fixit]

Yaaawwwnnnn ...

How many times have I read this over the last few months ...?

[Rob8891]

The cheque is in the post.

Oh you cynical TV members.... ?

[fstarbkk]

I thought the latest G2G Deal, was actually a MOU, which is a little way short of a Deal.

Maybe it's enough to borrow Bt 20 billion against?

But, 1 million tonnes of rice at estimate Bt 6,000 per tonne = Bt 6 Billion?

.. even at Bt 15,000 per tonne, it's still Bt 5 billion short of what they're saying.

You are correct - The annoncement yesterday said that it is only an M.o.U., which is a LONG way short of a deal and an even longer way from a binding contract.

[mrtoad]

How many more "next week" statements will PTP(Thai Rouge) announce?

[Seastallion]

Meanwhile, gullible farmers are saying, "Oh, cool! Lets tell everyone that the Shins, and Yinluck in particular are great, and we should all vote for PTP".

[Scamper]

The " deal " with China is a Memorandum of Understanding only. It does not have the power of parliamentary authority. These announcements are really a series of smoke and mirrors that are meant to dazzle the uninformed. They are meant to give the impression of authority, but they no longer have that. The former commerce minister is now a private citizen. What's he doing before the cameras ?

[Dap]

Does anyone still believe ANYTHING that comes out of their mouths? Endless promises of payments, but have they actually delivered on any (except for the mainly "red" areas of course).

Unfortunately, the farmers need to have some hope that they will eventually

get paid. They simply have nowhere else to turn (besides the money lenders).

They have little to hold them over besides hope. A ratsass situation to be sure

and one that is just gonna get worse for them.

[realenglish1]

oops that's good Don't pay the farmers because it is unconstitutional.

I come from the west and I have never ever seen a government blame the constitution for not paying something owed.

Good con.

" Yes we cannot pay out the farmers because if violates section 2 subsection 5 paragraph 3 sentence 4 that refers to any money paid will be subject to burden of proof before the government can obligate itself. If there was no direct obligation then under section 19 of subsection 4.3 on the third line in brackets.

any demand made to the government with regard to being paid out shall be adjudicated without prior notice and shall not be paid with regard to previous sums not directly

subject to any levy and therefor is unconstitutional

Does everyone get it ?

Edited March 6, 2014 by realenglish1

[renaissanc]

After making the latest promise, I'll bet the politicians did this:

[BWPattaya]

I needed a laugh, the headline to this thread achieved that.

[Old Man River]

Commerce Minister: Farmers will be paid next week

BANGKOK 6 March 2014 (NNT) —The Commerce Minister has affirmed that farmers will be paid for their pledged rice next week.

According to Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, the government-to-government rice deal with China will proceed, with Thailand delivering its first batch of 400,000 tons of rice in four months' time; dividing the lot into 100,000 tons per month.

In regard to payments for rice farmers who pledged their rice, the Minister said he expected the proposal to borrow 20 billion baht from the central budget to be given a nod by Friday.

Afterwards, it should take only 2-3 more days to allocate funds to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) in order to be paid to the farmers.

As for rice in the stockpiles, including that from the next harvest season, the Commerce Minister said if the government remained a caretaker one, the rest of the payment could not be paid out, as it would violate Section 181 of the Constitution.

-- NNT 2014-03-06

They keep needing to borrow from the Centrally approved budget. Once again, it looks like joining Suthep has helped these farmers get paid. If the government had intended to pay them, they would have already had an approved budget to pay them.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[animatic]

I thought the latest G2G Deal, was actually a MOU, which is a little way short of a Deal.

Maybe it's enough to borrow Bt 20 billion against?

But, 1 million tonnes of rice at estimate Bt 6,000 per tonne = Bt 6 Billion?

.. even at Bt 15,000 per tonne, it's still Bt 5 billion short of what they're saying.

This is the third time that have said the same deal is on.

But the last two times not a gram of rice went to China.

Third time is not likely the charm.

[PepperMe]

Commerce Minister: Farmers will be paid next week

Unless the EC do a u-turn on their decision to allow the government to borrow the money following repeated assaults from government ministers with threats to sue them etc...

If I was Somchai, I would have pulled it today and cited the government's fault for attacking the EC after they secured the money.

If this is the way this government repays the ECs decision to help pull them out of the crap they put themselves into, then they deserve no help at all.

[tomacht8]

Thai Commerce Minister: Rice farmers will be paid next week.

They past and copy this headline every week.

[Robby nz]

Should they get the 20 billion and this is not assured as it is at present before a senate committee and needs their approval concerning the legality of the deal then the conditions the loan will be that it must be repaid before May 31st.

The only way the Commerce Ministry have of repaying the loan is to sell rice, which means as they are under an obligation to repay the loan or face legal issues, then any rice sold will go to repaying the loan rather than paying the farmers.

So it is not a matter of the farmers getting paid from the loan and from the rice sales it is an either or situation.

If the loan does go through the farmers will get paid the 20 billion, less any that sticks to fingers and the BAAC commission.

Should it not go through they will get paid from rice sales, less the above.

If the loan is approved than that is all they can expect till after May 31st or when the loan is fully repaid (plus interest).

The BAAC is also asking for donations and has started two term deposit schemes one with no interest paid and the other paying 0.63%, the money raised from these will be used to pay the farmers.

So anyone with a genuine interest in helping the farmers can go to the bank and join one or all of these, every little helps, yes I will tomorrow.

[Spartakos]

I'm fairly new here and I need your help.I need to understand something. When people on this forum write posts praising this government are they

a) being paid to do that

trolling

c) ignorant about the situation

e) really believe what they post

And the e option really scares me.

Thank you.

[Baerboxer]

Thai Commerce Minister: Rice farmers will be paid next week.

They past and copy this headline every week.

The care taker PM/DM vowed they would be paid a couple of weeks ago. So this must be a mistake? They must have been paid, she wouldn't lie would she?

The strange thing is they are still being fed this shit about "being paid next week' when so many promises have been broken, yet have stopped protesting.

Wonder why?

[Thai at Heart]

oops that's good Don't pay the farmers because it is unconstitutional.

I come from the west and I have never ever seen a government blame the constitution for not paying something owed.

Good con.

" Yes we cannot pay out the farmers because if violates section 2 subsection 5 paragraph 3 sentence 4 that refers to any money paid will be subject to burden of proof before the government can obligate itself. If there was no direct obligation then under section 19 of subsection 4.3 on the third line in brackets.

any demand made to the government with regard to being paid out shall be adjudicated without prior notice and shall not be paid with regard to previous sums not directly

subject to any levy and therefor is unconstitutional

Does everyone get it ?

Well in the developed world, they don't budget for something that is meant to be self financing and then haphazardly spring that it needs a massive wedge of borrowing during a election time.

[Basil B]

How about the PTP offering to pay out of their own pockets if the government can not raise the money.