Spotlight on suspect funding deals
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Some 40 Democrats have lined up for the budget debate and will focus on two key issues - suspicious allocations to ministries under Pheu Thai supervision and inefficient disbursement of flood-related funds.
The debate is scheduled to take place from Monday to Wednesday next week. Coalition and opposition lawmakers will each have 13 hours to speak on the House floor.
“The Democrats want to call attention to the politicking behind the budgetary allocations,” opposition chief whip Jurin Laksanawisit said.
Jurin said Pheu Thai ministries seemed to enjoy a lopsided increase in budgetary allocations. The PM’s Office saw an increase of nearly 15 per cent while the Information and Communication Technology Ministry would enjoy a whopping 109 per cent increase.
The Labour Ministry would get a 132 per cent jump in earmarked funds. And emergency funds under the direct mandate of the prime minister would rise 11.7 per cent from Bt67 billion to Bt73 billion.
Jurin went on to question why only about Bt54 billion of Bt120 billion allocated for post-flooding reconstruction had been disbursed.
The government’s deficit budget policy for the 2013 fiscal year would allocate the largest chunk – 19 per cent – to the Education Ministry, an informed source said yesterday.
The Budget Bureau has calculated the budget for the 2013 fiscal year with total spending set at Bt2.4 trillion. This is Bt20 billion up from the previous annual budget, the source said, with the budget set at 19.1 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The deficit budget policy gives importance to state agencies’ improving their spending efficiency while considering other sources of funding, such as loans. It also gives more importance to state agencies’ work in line with the government’s policy announcement to the House, especially 16 urgent policies, the source said.
Regular spending was set at Bt1,902 billion – a Bt61.24 billion increase from the previous year – while the capital budget was at Bt449 billion – a Bt10.4 billion increase from last year. Loan repayments were set at Bt49.15 billion – a Bt2.3 billion increase from last year, the source said.
The largest chunk went to the Education Ministry at Bt460 billion followed by the central budget at Bt319.21 billion and Interior Ministry at Bt309.21 billion.
Government income was estimated at Bt164.3 billion, mostly from tax, while economic growth in 2013 was projected at 4.5 per cent with an inflation rate of 3.8 per cent.
