DROUGHT
Extra Bt4.7 bn earmarked to help counter the drought
Erich Parpart
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- THE Cabinet has approved an additional Bt4.7 billion from the central budget to further support the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry's eight measures aimed at tackling the drought this year and next.

The resolution brings the available budget for government anti-drought measures to a total of Bt11.15 billion, taking into account that Bt327 million has already been disbursed from the central budget.

The military-led government last month approved a budget of around Bt6.75 billion for the eight measures.

However, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry said another Bt4.71 billion was needed for the measures to be fully effective against the expected drought next year, due to the shortage of rainwater in dams and other reservoirs this year.

"Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai [sarikulya] proposed an additional Bt4.71 billion for the drought measures today by revealing to the Cabinet again about the eight measures, and the areas in which the additional budget will be concentrated - that is, with a focus on providing help for farmers and low-income earners who have been badly affected by the drought this year - and the Cabinet has approved the proposal," government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

The measures include increasing the level of farmers' education in regard to production costs; slowing down or extending the loan-repayment period for farmers; job-creation measures for farmers; and projects to tackle drought in local areas, as proposed by farmers.

Other measures under the support programme involve increasing the effectiveness of water usage; projects to increase the amount of water in dams and reservoirs; health and safety moves for an improvement in farmers' living conditions; and other support, such as providing marketing information and support for local tourism.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also approved an additional Bt1.8 billion under its cash-handout programme for 7,255 tambon around the country, under which each local government unit will receive around Bt5 million to be used for small utility and other projects aimed at improving living and working conditions in its area.

This brings the budget total for the handout scheme to Bt37.914 billion.

The reason for the increase is that some tambon have already received more than Bt5 million because their projects exceeded the budget limit.

The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the programme, deemed these costlier projects to be beneficial projects that could improve local people's living conditions, hence the request for extra funding, which won Cabinet approval yesterday, Sansern explained.

Meanwhile, Budget Bureau director Somsak Chotrattanasiri said yesterday he expected the government had disbursed around 94 per cent of its 2015 fiscal budget - worth around Bt2.575 trillion - by the end of the fiscal year, on September 30.

The bureau has yet to release the official figures, but the government set a target of 96 per cent at the outset of the fiscal year, in October 2014. If the government has managed to disburse around 94 per cent of its fiscal budget, it will be the highest disbursement rate for four years.

The director also said that 91 per cent of investment contracts under the government investment budget in fiscal 2015, worth around Bt449.475 billion in total, had already been signed.

This figure does not include the Bt50 billion-worth of central budget that was used to simulate the economy during the past fiscal year, which might cause the disbursement of the investment budget to miss the target of 83 per cent - achieving about 79 per cent instead - since the bureau was unable to allocate the funds in time when the budgetary period ended last month, Somsak explained.

"The 2 percentage points expected to be lower than the target [for overall government disbursement] should be viewed in terms of a transitional period, along with the measures to stimulate the economy and gross domestic product in the final three months of this [calendar] year.

"We expect around Bt128 billion to be pour into the economy in the last three months of 2015, which is almost 1 per cent of GDP, and this should help the economy in the final quarter, so I am satisfied with this performance," the budget director said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Extra-Bt4-7-bn-earmarked-to-help-counter-the-droug-30270322.html


-- The Nation 2015-10-07

The proposals are well-rounded and money well-spent for the short-term. The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry should be funded for another Bt4.71 billion. Say goodbye to new submarines and other military toys. A secure agricultural economy now is more important than a secure military.

Once out of the drought season more long-term plans are needed. This is where Somkid needs to lead a sustainable economy while avoiding the mistakes like Mao's Great Leap Forward and Jong-Un's internalization.