Explaining the budget bill for fiscal year 2024
The House of Representatives is meeting from Wednesday to Friday to discuss the 3.48-trillion-baht budget bill for fiscal year 2024. Expenditure is up by 295 trillion baht compared to the previous year.
The government and the opposition have 20 hours to debate the bill.
A total of 2.532 trillion baht has been allocated for fixed expenditure, 717 billion baht for investments, 118 billion baht for repayment of loans and 118 billion baht reimbursement of treasury reserves.
As per the deficit bill, the government expects revenue of 2.787 trillion baht, of which 2.276 trillion baht would be collected by the Revenue Department through taxes.
The budget is allocated to six areas based on the 20-year National Strategy, namely national security (391 billion baht), competitiveness (592 billion baht), human security (561 billion baht), social equality (951 billion baht), sustainability (247 billion baht), and public administration (734 billion baht).
If the bill successfully passes the first reading, it will be taken up for the second and third readings in the House before it passes on to the Senate for approval and ultimately receives royal endorsement. The entire process is expected to be completed by April.
