Ministry to discuss funding for rice-pledging scheme

 

Commerce permanent secretary Vatcharee Vimuktayon expected the budget for the scheme to be close to the Bt200 billion allocated in 2012/2013.

“The Cabinet has not approved additional funds for rice pledging. Only Bt410 billion has been provided, as approved early in the 2012/2013 season, as working capital for the rice-pledging scheme,” she said. “The sub-committee will have to find funds for future seasons from sales of rice from the government stockpile and from the reserves of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.”

At the moment, there is no problem. The 2013 off-season rice-pledging scheme is expected to require funds of no more than Bt100 billion, as the ministry will speed up sales of rice from the stockpile. In September, about Bt180 billion will be repaid to the Finance Ministry. 

Presently, the Department of Foreign Trade is negotiating government-to-government rice deals with several countries and attempting to set up new contracts with others.

Today, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom will sign a memorandum of understanding on trading rice with the government of Bangladesh. Under the deal, no more than one million tonnes of parboiled rice will be supplied to the country through 2016. 

The Department of Foreign Trade expects that Bt149.08 billion of rice from the Kingdom’s 2011/2012 output will be sold from March to September of this year. About Bt61.89 billion was received from rice sales in February.