Funding figures in line with framework: Niwatthumrong
Play
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan insisted on Tuesday that the accumulated funding for the rice-pledging scheme would be brought down under the ceiling at the end of this year.
According to the Finance Ministry's data provided by an anonymous source, accumulated funding has so far exceeded the Bt500 billion ceiling to about Bt760 billion.
Niwatthumrong insisted that the spending does not deviate from the framwork, that at the start of each harvest year, the accumulated amount must be brought down to Bt500 billion.
Niwatthumrong said that the funding should have been only Bt650 billion.
"You should ask the Finance Ministry from where the figures came. Yet, this was not discussed at the Cabinet meeting," he said.
