2016 fiscal budget to be finalized in January

BANGKOK, 28 November 2015 (NNT) – Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has asked the Bureau of the Budget to speed up the conclusion on the state’s 2016 fiscal budget plan.

Gen Prayut convened a meeting with state officials on two agendas including the 2016 fiscal budget disbursement and the government’s economic stimulus plan.

During the meeting, Gen Prayut said the funds to be spent under the 2016 fiscal plan should be disbursed in a timely manner so as to facilitate mega projects scheduled to be launched next year. According to him, the combined value of 2016’s invested capital will be 20% or around 540 billion baht higher than this year.

The Budget Bureau's Director-General, Somsak Chotrattanasiri, informed the prime minister that the Finance Ministry, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the Budget Bureau and the Bank of Thailand will meet on 8-14 January 2016 during which the government’s 2016 fiscal budget plan will to be finalized.

-- NNT 2015-11-28

It is a good idea to have the state’s 2016 fiscal budget plan finalized in January 2016 as the 2016 fiscal year began October 1, 2015.

But it does leave a question of what exactly did the Prayut Cabinet approve in April 2015:

Cabinet approves Bt2.72-trillion budget for fiscal 2016, The Nation 2015-04-29. "The Cabinet has approved the government's Bt2.72-trillion budget bill for fiscal 2016, including a deficit of Bt390 billion on expected revenue of around Bt2.33 trillion....The government will be more ready this fiscal year and the plan is to get all the contracts signed within the first fiscal quarter,"