Srettha says his govt ‘inherited’ budget bill from predecessor
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Friday that his government had “inherited” the budget bill for fiscal 2024 from its predecessor and was doing its utmost to make improvements.
He was responding in Parliament on the final day of debate to complaints of alleged unfair budget allocation by opposition MPs from the Democrat Party who claimed that state funds set aside for southern provinces were insufficient.
Southern provinces are a traditional political stronghold of the Democrats.
“You have to understand that we have inherited this budget bill. And we are trying to do our best with it,” PM Srettha said.
He added that over the past four months in office, he had visited the South several times – twice to the three southern border provinces and many times to Phuket.
The prime minister said that his government sincerely wanted to ensure security and wealth in the South as in the other regions of the country.
“As the prime minister, I believe that within four years Thai people in all regions [of the country] will have better well-being,” he said.
The PM said that many points in the budget bill could be improved for the maximum benefit of the public. Regarding opposition MPs’ allegations of unfair budget allocation, he said the focus should rather be on how to ensure improved well-being for all groups of people.
Friday was the last day of the three-day House of Representatives debate on the 3.48-trillion-baht budget bill for fiscal 2024.
Thailand’s fiscal year 2024 started on October 1 last year, just days after Srettha’s coalition government assumed office in mid-September.
Srettha, who doubles as the finance minister, echoed what Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said recently about the budget bill for fiscal 2024.
Julapun had said that much of the allocations in the budget bill were inherited from General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government, explaining why a significant portion of the budgeting in the current administration's draft was similar to that of its predecessor.
The deputy finance minister said continuous budgeting restricted adjustments to certain allocations. He added, however, that the Srettha government had revised the original bill to better reflect its policies. These include addressing issues related to the fight against narcotics and toxic fine dust, as well as upgrading the universal healthcare programme.
The last day of the debate on Friday was less intense than on the first two days.
MP Sopon Saram from the coalition’s Bhumjaithai Party pointed to the worsening problem of drug addiction in the country. He said that the task of narcotics suppression should be given directly to the police and that more budget should be allocated to them to ensure the success of the fight against illicit drugs.
Opposition MP Preeda Boonplerng from the Thai Teachers for People Party accused the government of failing to pay attention to the country’s education. He said the budget allocated insufficient amount of funds to the Education Ministry.
The opposition MP pointed out that the Education Ministry was second in terms of the budget allocations this fiscal year although it had always topped the list of allocations for ministries.
He called for a 10% increase in the state budget allocated to all 11 agencies under the Education Ministry.
