Yingluck kicks off 2013 budget bill debate
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Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Monday kicked off the 2013 budget bill debate by defending the government's planned spending, saying that most of the budget would be spent for improving social and economic mechanisms and developing the country's infras
The debate started at 10 am with Yingluck spending about 50 minutes reading from a prepared statement.
She said the 2013 budget bill would allocate Bt2.44 trillion for government spending and it would result in a larger deficit compared with the 2012 budget. The deficit would increase by Bt20 billion.
She said the spending was planned on projections of 5.5 to 6.5 per cent growth and 3.5 to 4.0 per cent inflation. She said the growth in 2013 was expected to be 4.0 to 5.0 per cent while inflation was expected to be 3.8 per cent.
Based on the projections, the government expected to receive revenue of Bt2.197 trillion in the new budget year, an increase of 6.3 per cent. From the revenue, Bt 97.9 billion would be allocated to local government, leaving Bt2.1 trillion as net government revenue.
She said most of the budget would be spent on the country’s development under nine strategies.
Among other things, Bt491.48 billion would be earmarked for sustainable social development under 16 projects while Bt625.44 billion would be spent under the education development strategy.
Before the debate started, Pheu Thai MP Udomdej Ratanasathien, chairman of the coalition coordination committee on parliamentary affairs, said the coalition and opposition would be allocated 13 hours for the debate, which would run from Monday to Wednesday.
Udomdet said 80 Pheu Thai MPs wanted to speak during the debate so they would be allocated five minutes each.
Chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanavisit said 40 Democrat Party MPs would point out during the 3-day debate how the government had failed to tackle the rising cost of living and how the populist schemes had failed.
