Minister Visut assures 80 percent of investment budget will have been disbursed by September

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Minister Visut assures 80 percent of investment budget will have been disbursed by September



BANGKOK: -- Only ten percent of the 450 billion baht investment budget for 2015 fiscal year or 45 billion baht were disbursed during the first 3-4 months of the fiscal year but the disbursement eventually quickened and, so far, up to 30 percent of the budget were spent.

The above remark was disclosed by Deputy Finance Minister Visut Srisuphan today. He, however, assured that up to 80 percent of the investment budget would be disbursed by the end of the fiscal year in September.

The private sector has placed their hope on the government’s investment budget spending to spur the weakening economy.

The total budget of the government for 2015 fiscal year amounts to 2.57 trillion baht of which 450 billion baht were earmarked for investment. 51 percent of the budget have been disbursed during the first half of the year.

Revenue collection has missed the target by 12 billion baht but it still represents an increase of 7.4 billion baht from the same period last fiscal year. This shows that revenue collection is not a big problem as more revenue are expected to be collected later of the year, said Mr Visut.

Growth rate for last year was 0.7 percent by the Revenue Department has predicted that revenue collection will increase by 13.9 percent.

Overall, economic outlook is good largely due to tourism industry which grows by 25 percent for the first three months of this year. For April alone which coincides with Songkran festival, tourism is expected to expand by 30 percent, said Mr Visut.

(Photo : Thai PBS File)


-- Thai PBS 2015-04-07

[Commerce]

I didn't know Visut was a Chinese name.

[Costas2008]

Instead of reading comics it's better to read these kind of articles.......or is it the same?

[seajae]

yes they will be disbursed but who to?

Edited April 7, 2015 by seajae

[JAG]

Still waiting for a price on those submarines?

[Srikcir]

"Overall, economic outlook is good largely due to tourism industry which grows by 25 percent for the first three months of this year."

NO.

First, a 25% growth in tourism is questionable and may only reflect an increase in number of visitors but not an increase in revenues.

Second, tourism only accounts for about 10% of the GDP while EXPORTS account for 70% of the GDP. And exports are running almost flat and Thailand may experience a deficit trade balance by summer. For tourism to change the economic outlook for Thailand, ie., cause an overall positive GDP growth rate, it would have to grow by about 1,000% in value to match the VALUE of lost exports.