Government suffers budget deficit in six-month time

BANGKOK: The Ministry of Finance yesterday released a statistics for the first six months of the 2016 budget showing the country's expenditures have exceeded revenues by 500 billion baht.

It said the budget deficit was recorded from October last year till end of March this year.

It said during the period, the government could generate around 1.05 trillion baht in revenues.

However the government spendings also rose to 1.57 trillion baht.

It said budget disbursements accounted for more than 1.5 trillion baht which is higher than for the same period last year as the government was eager to speed up injection of funds into critically needed economic stimulus packages.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/161681

-- Thai PBS 2016-04-30

Good job they did not waste any on "populist policies" and directed the monies to "critically needed economic stimulus packages."

The incumbent Ministers are going to be rolling in the cash with the record Govt. spending that is going on... 10 million for me, 10 million to the Project, rinse and repeat...

Edited April 30, 201610 yr by merlin2002

What exactly are they spending on?

Most of the really big ticket infrastructure projects at the national level are still in the planning/environmental stages AFAIK, and haven't progressed to the actual awarding of construction contracts or actual construction work, as yet.

However, I'm not sure about the exact status of the plans for buying the submarine they so desperately want/need...

This is the first of many deficits to come. They will become the norm. Military government don't have much of a reputation for managing economies and balancing budgets. They are more like socialist governments that tend to spend big and run deficit budgets. When the money runs out then print some more.

And how much of the spendings went to the military?

What exactly are they spending on?

Most of the really big ticket infrastructure projects at the national level are still in the planning/environmental stages AFAIK, and haven't progressed to the actual awarding of construction contracts or actual construction work, as yet.

However, I'm not sure about the exact status of the plans for buying the submarine they so desperately want/need...

That's the 1.57 trillion baht question!

They spent a truckload fighting the drought, there was that housing project, but I'm not sure of any other big ticket projects. It would be very interesting to see where this money went, and how much of it was siphoned off as 'commissions'...

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

Edited April 30, 201610 yr by Rayk

What exactly are they spending on?

Crackdowns, censorship, charter, committees, ......

Apparently there are 2 threads with the same title. So THB 500 billion is around 3.7% of 2015 annual gdp.

Waiting for the "but the rice scam was 700 billion baht" comments to roll in...

Kicking holiday makers might impact on that mate !

Yippee new Mercedes all round for the boys

But hasn't Thailand been running a government spending-deficit for the past decade ?

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/government-budget

Making this a bit of a non-news story, and the political snipping off-target.

Surprise surprise. They have been throwing around billions upon billions for umpteen mega-projects with reckless abandon. And many projects are in their infancy stages so higher debt still to come!

Just about covers the rice scam - use it now get someone to pay for it - now where's those submarines?

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

23 million tourists are expected in Greece this year , just thought I'd mention that, for something to do.

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

23 million tourists are expected in Greece this year , just thought I'd mention that, for something to do.

Yes, and I understand Syrians are the most anticipated.

Way back when I was interested the finance Ministry was the most capable and believable of any of the departments, and they had a good reputation internationally, seems they still hold that honesty and the deficit didn't grow into a 500 million surplus, because the Junta wanted some good news.................................... .

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

23 million tourists are expected in Greece this year , just thought I'd mention that, for something to do.

Ah, but are they "quality tourists"?

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

23 million tourists are expected in Greece this year , just thought I'd mention that, for something to do.

Yes, and I understand Syrians are the most anticipated.

Maybe Thailand should try to encourage the Syrians to come instead of the Chinese.

A minor inconvenience having a 500billion baht deficit in the first six months. The important thing to remember is that tourism is up 20% over previous years, isn't that right djjamie. Laughable, simply laughable!

Come out, come out wherever you are.

23 million tourists are expected in Greece this year , just thought I'd mention that, for something to do.

Yes, and I understand Syrians are the most anticipated.

Maybe Thailand should try to encourage the Syrians to come instead of the Chinese.

The FSB already told Immigration there was 4 Syrians in the country several months ago;)

 

And how much of the spendings went to the military?

I think perhaps the better question is, into whose pockets did it go?

Or else the Great Firewall of Thailand and the oppression of human rights, is much more expensive (in real money) than we thought.

Show me a country that does not have an increasing deficit. And show me an announcement of further borrowing from the Gnomes. And show me that the Thai Mint is pumping out trillions of new banknotes over and above reserve values in the midst of an era of recession. Don't be smug. Your other currency might become funny money yet!

And how much of the spendings went to the military?

proberly nowhere near as much as the uk or usa

What's that got to do with the question asked ? The topic is Thailand, considering both other countries have substantial commitments to the war on terror, and are more wide spead across the globe, have better technology, and greater in numbers (as in the hardware) it wouldn't be surprising their spendings would be greater, both countries have professional soldiers, who earn a damn sight more than your average Thai soldier, unless you're a Thai General.

It's actually not an unreasonable question, what was the increase in the militaries budget from last year, and from the year before, and what exactly have they procured with it? (Apart from the single gateway )

I seem to recall they had an increase of 20% last year from 2014, it takes a lot of money to quell these pesky students, and their suppress their opinions.

Does that mean there is no money left to give people gifts to help them vote on the constitution?

And how much of the spendings went to the military?

One could ask how much went into their pockets? you do remember that he declared himself and his mates and their bank accounts OFF LIMITS all the while crying out and promising that they are full transparent

There will one day be a leak and the paper trail will be exposed to the world and those now very few fan boys here on TVF will once again be silent.....

Good job they did not waste any on "populist policies" and directed the monies to "critically needed economic stimulus packages."

Like salaries for all the extra generals, submarines, fighter aircraft etc

Still will give them another excuse for a coup when whoever takes over has to try to sort out this financial incompetence.

Off topic posts and replies have been removed, this topic is not about the US budget deficit and it is not about military spending in the UK or the US.

Show me a country that does not have an increasing deficit. And show me an announcement of further borrowing from the Gnomes. And show me that the Thai Mint is pumping out trillions of new banknotes over and above reserve values in the midst of an era of recession. Don't be smug. Your other currency might become funny money yet!

So the exchange rate should take off?