Budget Bureau and Finance Ministry to discuss possible Budget Bill revisions

The bill, which set a state budget of 3.35 trillion baht for the fiscal year starting in October, was approved in March by the government of General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The bureau and the ministry will examine the budget in detail to determine if certain revisions should be made to better reflect the policies of a new government or if the entire budget bill should be rewritten, according to the source.

However, the latter choice would require reviews of the country’s estimated revenues and expenditures, as well as other economic figures, the source added.

The Move Forward Party, led by Pita Limjaroenrat, is attempting to form a new governing coalition of eight political parties with 313 MPs, following the party’s election victory last Sunday.

Of the 3.35 trillion baht allocated in the Budget Bill, 2.49 trillion is for regular expenditures, 717 billion for investments in development projects, 117 billion for loan repayments, and another 33.7 billion set aside as treasury reserve.

According to the source, the state budget for fiscal 2024 is a deficit budget, which means it has more expenditures and revenues. The outgoing government planned to borrow 593 billion baht to offset the deficit.

Thailand’s public debt stands at 10.79 trillion baht, accounting for 61.2% of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), which totals 19.42 trillion baht.

The public debt remains under the ceiling of 70% of GDP set by the State Committee on Monetary and Financial Policies.

The Finance Ministry’s Public Debt Management Office forecast that the country’s public debt will increase to 61.73% of GDP by the end of this fiscal year.

That would leave a margin of 8-9% of GDP, or 1.5 trillion baht in additional loans, to remain under the 70% ceiling.