Govt plans road show in 12 provinces on high-speed trains

The first is slated for Nong Khai from October 4-8 and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will preside over the event. During her recent visit to the Northeastern province, she promised to turn Nong Khai into a hub of the region.

The Cabinet on September 24 will be asked to approve the Finance Ministry’s proposal to widen its loan-guarantee scope for state enterprises and government agencies. Under Article 27 of the Public Debt Management Act BE 2548, the ministry is authorised to provide full or partial loan guarantee to government agencies, state enterprises or specialised financial institutions. 

In the draft amendment, the ministry specifies other types of loans that it may ask for the Cabinet’s endorsement for extra guarantee. 

- Loans for infrastructure projects that benefit the general public, projects that generate high economic and social value.

- Loans extended by international agencies, foreign governments, overseas state-owned financial institutions, or foreign financial institutions. 

- Loans borrowed in tight market condition. Without guarantee, it may cause damage to the country.

- Loans on which the ministry has to shoulder full or partial responsibility, as ordered by the Cabinet.

- Refinancing loans.

- Loans essential to implement the government’s policies.

- Revolving loans for government agencies, state enterprises and state-owned financial institutions whose product and service prices are under the government’s control.

- Loans for investment or refinancing projects. 

A government source said that the Finance Ministry said its guarantee would save the borrowing cost and enhance public debt management efficiency. 

The Cabinet secretary-general’s office opined that this is one of the measures to maintain the government’s borrowing cost. However, the National Economic and Social Development Board warned that the ministry must strictly follow through the public debt management planning and other laws and regulations.

Former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday said poor management by politicians in power should be blamed for problems with large infrastructure projects of the past, such as construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport. “Delays or failures of those projects stemmed from poor management, and not from the source of funds,” he said.

Korn, a deputy leader of the opposition Democrat Party, was responding to a Facebook post by Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan that political changes would have no impact on transport infrastructure projects to be funded by loans to be borrowed by the Finance Ministry. “Every government from now on will have to follow this plan to build the country’s future,” he said.

Supavud Saichuea, managing director for research at Phatra Securities, said yesterday that the projects under the loans plan would help push Thailand’s gross domestic product to at least 5 per cent a year. 

Sompravin Manprasert, from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Economics, did not think the loans would help stimulate the economy in the short term but that positive effects would be visible in two to three years.