Kittiratt tells Moody's rice pledging not a threat
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Global credit-rating agency Moody's Investors Service has urged the government to manage its budget for the rice-pledging scheme as planned, while Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong insists the programme will not become a heav
Following a discussion with Moody’s management, Kittiratt said the government had stressed its balanced-budget targeting for the 2017 fiscal year and its goal of narrowing the budget deficit from the 2012 fiscal year.
Despite the Bt2-trillion infrastructure project, the government will attempt to maintain the level of public debt at no more than 50 per cent of gross domestic product.
In response to Moody’s question on the rice-pledging scheme, Kittiratt said the policy did not present too great a burden for the government, given the budget allocation and working capital gained from rice sales.
As to rising household debts, commercial banks, as the main lenders, should control their loan extension, although some debts came from state projects such as the first-car and first-home schemes, he said.
Most of the state-run banks’ lending is aimed at solving the problem of underground debts, he added. Kittiratt said that although the government currently had no new economic stimulus measures, the Bt350-billion water-management project and Bt2-trillion infrastructure project, if approved, would boost the economy.
He also insisted there would be no hike in excise duty on diesel on October 1, as the government had no need to collect additional revenue. It will also await the Energy Ministry’s ideas on the future of diesel duty.
Overall tax revenue had surpassed the government’s target in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which began last October, he pointed out. Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry will soon set up a centre with the aim of preventing the problem of deteriorating rice quality under the rice-pledging scheme.
The goal is to ensure that every grain is of high quality and that Thailand’s decades-long reputation as a quality rice producer is not tarnished. The move comes after rumours and unclear information posts on social media, alleging the low quality of Thai rice under the pledging project.
Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach yesterday said the ministry’s Internal Trade Department would work closely with other agencies and the laboratories of educational institutes nationwide to test the quality of rice stored in warehouses.
The ministry will open a hotline, 1569, for receiving complaints about low-quality rice and the problem of the mixing of rice grains, he said, adding that the centre should be able to prove the quality of Thai rice amidst the many rumours that have been circulating.
