Govt plans short-term stimulus measure until budget bill is passed
The Finance Ministry is drafting a short-term plan to stimulate the economy, to be implemented before the Budget Bill for fiscal 2024 takes effect, permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit said on Thursday.
Parliament is currently deliberating the first reading of the government’s proposed 3.48-trillion-baht budget in the first reading, which concludes on Friday.
Lavaron said the stimulus plan aims to “keep the economy afloat”, as well as ensure that government agencies and state enterprises could start disbursing their investment budget as planned. It would be especially useful for those planning to invite bids for government projects, so that the contracts could be signed as soon as the bill was passed.
Lavaron pointed out that the economy required a stimulus as the fiscal budget was not yet available.
He added that Thailand was expecting a spike in foreign arrivals from previously announced tourism promotion policies, as well as the tax exemption on imported alcoholic beverages.
“These measures would also help stimulate the domestic economy and consumption, enabling the government to collect more revenue from value added tax,” he said.
Lavaron did not disclose the amount for the short-term stimulus or how it will be funded.
The government’s revenue collection in fiscal 2023, which ended on September 30, 2023, amounted to 2.66 trillion baht, exceeding the target by 174 billion baht, or 7%. The Revenue Department alone contributed 2.21 trillion baht to the total revenue.
The proposed 2024 fiscal budget of 3.48 trillion baht is 9.3% higher than that of the previous year, with the government expecting 2.78 trillion baht in revenue. Thailand expects to run a deficit of 693 billion baht, or 3.6% of the GDP, in fiscal 2024.
