PM promises transparency in budget spending
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assured the Senate of prudent budget spending, following their concerns over the huge central budget of Bt400 billion.
The central budget normally contains no detail of spending.
The Senate also expressed concern over the executive decree to borrow additional Bt350 billion to finance flood-related projects. They urged the government to closely monitor the rehabilitation spending in the short and long term.
In her address to the Senate, during the 2012 budget bill vetting, she insisted that the government needed to resort to a new budgeting approach this year, in the aftermath of the disastrous floods. All ministries had to slash their annual budget by 10 per cent to boost the rehabilitation budget.
She also insisted that the budget would be spent efficiently and transparently, with two focuses - rehabilitating the economy and preventing another disaster.
The expenditure this year is fixed at Bt2.38 trillion.
