First NLA scrutiny of fiscal 2016 state budget to begin on May 21

The second vetting session by the NLA is expected to commence around August 25.

"The fiscal 2016 budget will be available on time in October. Ministries and relevant government agencies are already working on their procurement and employment plans as instructed by the prime minister in the last Cabinet meeting," he said.

"These plans will be announced after the second vetting session, while some contracts will be ready to sign right away in October. These are mostly small construction projects worth less than Bt2 million," he said.

The fiscal 2016 budget is set at Bt2.72 trillion, including a deficit of Bt390 billion. The investment budget was set at Bt543.635 billion, which is Bt94.16 billion or 20.9 per cent more than in fiscal 2015.

Government Spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said the Cabinet approved the development of a 7-kilometre strip along the Chao Phraya River near Rama VII Bridge to build a flood-prevention dam and open up a recreational park on top of the dam.

The Cabinet approved an 18-month construction time frame, its Environmental Impact Assessment study, another study to determine expropriation compensation. The project will cost around Bt14.06 billion. Contracts for the construction of the dam are expected to start this year, he said.

Somsak said the reason the treasury reserve under the Finance Ministry had dropped from an average of around Bt200 billion to around Bt100 billion in the past few months was the accelerated disbursement of the state budget. This is normal, as around 13 per cent of the fiscal 2015 investment budget was disbursed in March alone.

The proportion of the government’s investment budget spent in the first seven months of fiscal 2015 was 36.2 per cent, better than the 35.7 per cent in the same period of 2012, 35.5 per cent in 2013 and 33.6 per cent in 2014.

Somsak said 70 per cent of the Bt23 billion earmarked for job-creation projects (mostly road and government- building maintenance projects under the Education and Public Health ministries and for irrigation projects) had been disbursed. The job-creation measures were part of the ruling junta’s Bt364.47-billion stimulus package that was introduced almost a year ago.

MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, commented during the Cabinet meeting that consumer confidence was not as bad as claimed by some. He urged the public to look at the collection of value-added tax, which is a real indicator that can truly show the level of domestic consumption.

He said VAT collection had increased by 8.7 per cent year on year in January, 1.6 per cent in February, 19.3 per cent in March and 11.4 per cent in April. This means VAT collection increased on average by 10.2 per cent in the first four months of 2015 when compared with the same period of 2014.