Budget Bureau expects Thailand to post lower deficit in 2017 than Bt390 bn estimated in 2016
The 2017 fiscal budget deficit is expected to be lower than fiscal 2016's Bt390 billion as the government is expected to collect more revenue, such as income from the auctions of 4G telecom licences, the Budget Bureau says.
Meanwhile, the public-private partnership scheme and the ongoing reforms in budget allocation are expected to help lower the government’s investment costs in 2016.
The bureau is confident that revenue collections for fiscal 2016, which are estimated at around Bt2.33 trillion, will meet expectations. The budget for fiscal 2016, which began last month, was set at Bt2.72 trillion.
"The estimated income for fiscal 2016 is pretty high," Budget Bureau director Somsak Chotrattanasiri told reporters after a permanent secretaries’ meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the bureau yesterday.
The first round of auctions for fourth-generation telecom licences will bring in around Bt80.78 billion in state revenue, higher than |the estimated real spectrum value, where the base price for each licence on the 1,800-megahertz spectrum was set at Bt15.91 billion.
"Around half of the income from the 4G licences will enter the 2016 budget, while the second half will enter the 2017 budget," he said.
True Move H Universal Communi-cation won the first licence with a bid of Bt39.79 billion, while Advanced Wireless Network bid Bt40.99 billion for the second licence on the 1,800MHz spectrum. The auction for two 4G licences on the 900MHz spectrum is set for December 15.
Somsak said the investment portion of the 2017 fiscal budget was expected to be around 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, around 19.99 per cent of fiscal 2016’s Bt2.72-trillion budget had already been disbursed as of November 20, while 5.97 per cent of the Bt543.635-billion fiscal 2016 investment budget was disbursed. That is 1.2 per cent more than in the same period in fiscal 2015 and 4.7 per cent more than in the same period if fiscal 2014.
Contracts signed
Around 17 per cent of the investment contracts have been signed.
"The rate of disbursement so far indicates that the rate for the rest of this fiscal year should be higher than that of fiscal 2015, from the policy that all investment contracts for projects under Bt2 million have to be signed and capital has to be disbursed within the first fiscal quarter. Projects worth from Bt2 million to no more than Bt500 million should be signed within the first quarter and disbursed according to instalments," Somsak said.
"Meanwhile, investment contracts for projects worth more than Bt500 million should all be signed within the second fiscal quarter, which is in accordance with the bureau’s plan for fiscal 2016, while the plans for fiscal 2017 will be more in accord with the bureau’s |integrative budget-planning strategy."
The integrative budgeting strategy for fiscal 2017 will concentrate on tackling problems and enhancing development in six areas. These are national security, economic competitiveness, labour efficiency, poverty reduction via promotion of the local economy, management of natural resources, and anti-corruption.
Its preliminary plan will go before the Cabinet for approval on December 25, he said.
