Quick disbursement of investment budget will boost GDP growth: Pichai

Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said he will get government agencies to speed up the disbursement of investment funds so the target of 2.5% growth can be achieved this year. 

Pichai said this in his report to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during the economic ministers’ council held at Government House on Monday. The meeting aimed to follow up on the measures introduced at the first meeting two weeks ago, and to monitor the current economy. 

Apart from Pichai, who also holds the deputy PM post, Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit were also at the meeting. Both Phumtham and Suriya are double up as deputy prime ministers.

Senior permanent officials, who attended the meeting included Danucha Pichayanan, National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) secretary-general, Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, and Budget Bureau director-general Chalermphol Pensoot.

At the meeting, Pichai said the NESDC had projected a GDP growth of 2.5% this year, while the Fiscal Policy Office set it at 2.4%. He added that the Finance Ministry will try to achieve the target set by NESDC by speeding up the disbursement of 850 billion baht in investment budget from fiscal 2024. 

He said that so far, 38.6% of the investment budget has been disbursed, far more than the target of 20% and was confident that up to 70% of the investment budget would be distributed before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This, he believes, will allow the country to achieve 2.5% GDP growth this year.