PM pledges to focus on economy as MPs put seal of approval on budget bill

The budget for the next fiscal year has been set at around Bt3.285 trillion. Of the 456 members of Parliament present in the house, 269 MPs voted in favour, 60 voted against and 127 abstained from voting.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha thanked the House for passing the bill, and vowed to use the budget for strengthening the country’s economy, ensuring sustainable development, reducing disparity and disbursing aid to all people throughout the country in a transparent manner. He also thanked the special committee on budget bill revision who carefully revised the draft based on suggestions from the MPs over the past three days.
Deputy House Speaker Suchart Tancharoen, who chaired the session, announced the conclusion of the meeting at 11.28pm. However, Amornrat Chokpamitkul, a party-list MP of Kao Klai Party raised her hand asking for a chance to discuss with the prime minister about the ID cards of people travelling from upcountry to Bangkok being checked. Suchart refused to give her the floor, as the topic was not on the agenda and turned off her microphone. Amornrat then approached the PM and had a word with him, but the details of their discussion were not revealed.