Thirachai attacks government borrowing schemes

 On his Facebook page, Thirachai posted a new item yesterday. He said that Kittiratt told the Cabinet that there was an urgency to issue four executive decrees, which include the one on FIDF, as the government's debt repayment is as high as 12 per cent of expenditure, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board. However, Thirachai said that his figure, from the Public Debt Management Office, is below 10 per cent.
 Executive decrees need no parliamentary screening, but a bill which takes more time is subjected to the screening.
 On Saturday, he attacked the government for the decrees which are considered as attempts to understate public debts.
 He said that the government wants to understate public debts, to remove any pressure that it needs to raise taxes in the future to cover the debts. Such tax hikes would affect its popularity. 
 "The lower level of debt will allow more populist policies, leading the people to consumer more and save less, regardless of sufficiency. We will all wrongly view ourselves as rich and forget the need to pare down debts," he noted.
 While saying that he saw the need to borrow substantial sums for water management and logistics improvement, he noted that the government needed no measure to disturb market confidence when it can borrow Bt2 trillion more before the public debts hit the 60 per cent statutory limit.