New government can rewrite budget bill for next fiscal year: Wissanu
A new government led by the Move Forward Party has full authority to rewrite the budget bill drafted for the next fiscal year by the outgoing government, Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Thursday.
“It’s a normal thing to happen. The new government has different policies so they will change the priority of their budget,” Wissanu said.
The Budget Bureau has drafted the fiscal 2024 budget bill under the administration of outgoing Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and it needs to pass Parliament by the end of September because the fiscal year starts in October.
Wissanu said the caretaker government had to have a budget bill ready in case the formation of the next government is delayed, though previously he said the new government could be formed by mid-August.
“The new government can change [the bill],” Wissanu said, adding that the Move Forward Party, which won the May 14 election with 151 MPs, has a different budgeting policy than the outgoing government.
The Move Forward will use the so-called zero-based budgeting approach. It is one of the policies announced in the 23-point memorandum of understanding signed by leaders of the eight partners of the coalition it has formed.
Move Forward has argued that the traditional budgeting approach, which uses the previous year’s budget as a base, no longer meets the demands of voters.
Zero-based budgeting starts from a zero base, rather than the amount in the previous year’s budget, and requires every government agency to justify all of its expenses for the next fiscal year and to prioritise their most urgent needs.
“It’s normal for a new government to overhaul the budget prepared by the previous government,” Wissanu reiterated.
