Arkom swings into action to revive economic growth
New Finance Minister Arkom Termpittayapaisith has started visiting state agencies for information and to give them policy advice, Thansettakij newspaper reported.
Although the overall picture of the Thai economy looks slightly better after the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) downgraded the full-year forecast to 7.7 per cent contraction from the previously expected minus 8.5 per cent, the economy still needs to be nurtured back into positive territory. Next year, the economy is expected to recover to 4.5 per cent growth, but it will take about two years for the Thai economy to return to the pre-Covid-19 outbreak level, Thansettakij said.
One month after taking office as new finance minister, Arkom had reportedly called only one meeting with top executives of the Ministry of Finance and some others. Therefore it did not see many actual results since most of his work involves the government’s Centre for Economic Situation Administration or the Cabinet.
From November 9-13, Arkom will visit eight important agencies under the Ministry of Finance: Revenue Department, Excise Department, Customs Department, Fiscal Policy Office, Public Debt Management Office, State Enterprise Policy Office, The Treasury Department and the Comptroller-General's Department, to listen to operational guidelines and suggest policies for each agency to implement.
The Revenue Department, which is a key agency in generating income for the government, has set its revenue target for fiscal year 2021 at Bt2.085 trillion.
Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the director-general of the Revenue Department, confirmed the revenue target, explaining that they would receive additional income from the collection of value-added tax from electronic service providers abroad to domestic service recipients (e-service) after the House of Representatives approves it as a law. It is expected to be effective early next year, and generate about Bt5 billion.
Meanwhile, the tax base will be widened to bring more income in the future, but that may not be enough, Ekniti said. Arkom may therefore hike taxes, but at the same time technology must be used to draw more people to pay taxes, Ekniti said.