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The government is pushing for the implementation of the inheritance tax law as soon as possible, Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said yesterday.

The Council of State is examining the draft law before submitting it to the Cabinet and then the National Legislative Assembly. He added that the draft would be revised to make it less stringent than the original. The ministry will also try to close possible legal loopholes.

It will also be renamed the draft law of giving and receiving inheritance, to ensure the taxation covers both givers and recipients.

Under the draft law, if the inheritance givers pass on such assets to the recipients two years before they pass away, they will be subject to tax at the same rate as the recipients, which is 10 per cent of the asset value if that value exceeds Bt50 million.

Sommai added that the tax was not primarily aimed at generating revenue but to ensure social equality. The tax rate of 10 per cent is also appropriate and even lower than those in other countries, such as Japan, where the rate is 33 per cent.

The government is set to spend more than Bt100 billion to stimulate economic growth next year through programmes designed to help farmers cut production cost and the negative income tax, Sommai said yesterday. He added that details of all measures would be finalised by next month.

Public Debt office borrows Bt7.7 billion

The Public Debt Management Office has reported that it borrowed Bt7.7 billion from the Finance Ministry last month through the issue of government and savings bonds in order to lower the current budget deficit. Borrowings worth Bt7.2 billion would come from issue of government bonds and the remaining Bt530 million by issue of government savings bonds, said Chularat Suteethorn, the PDMO director-general.

Central bank notes FED decisions

The Bank of Thailand said the results of the latest meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee, which decided to maintain its policy interest rate, tapered quantitative easing (QE) by US$10 billion a month, and changed its estimation of interest rates at the end of 2015 and 2016 to 1.375 per cent and 2.875 per cent respectively, were as per expectations and in line with the recovery of the US economy.

Chantavarn Sucharitakul, assistant BOT governor for the Financial Markets Operations Group, said that even though the US will reduce QE next month, the liquidity level and the financial situation as a whole were still relatively relaxed and gave time for other regions to adapt.

The effect of the FOMC meeting that needs to be monitored is the rate of the US dollar when compared with other currencies or the Dollar Index (DXY), which is the highest since July last year. As for the baht, she said there was not much change in the exchange rate yesterday when compared with Tuesday and the rate of return on investment for Thai bonds had moved in a small range and had relatively no change when compared with the same period.