Thailand's FY2570 Budget Debate Highlights Fiscal Structural "Pus" Amid Revenue Shortfall and Rising Expenditures

The Thai House of Representatives continued deliberations on the fiscal year 2027 (October 1, 2027 - September 30, 2028) budget for the second day. Government representatives acknowledged the opposition's critique that the budget structure suffers from "pus" and operates on a "day-to-day" basis, admitting these are long-standing structural issues. Mr. Paradorn Prisnanantakul, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office overseeing the Budget Bureau, explained that while the FY2027 budget is set at 3.788 trillion baht, national revenue is only around 3 trillion baht, necessitating borrowing of 788 billion baht to cover the deficit. He further elaborated that a significant portion of revenue is allocated to recurrent expenses and debt repayment, leaving considerably less for national development investments. To maintain fiscal discipline, the government has decided to keep borrowing levels unchanged from the previous year, resulting in a reduction of approximately 70 billion baht in investment budgets and decreased allocations for most ministries. Mr. Paradorn called for comprehensive reform of the entire budget structure from all stakeholders, including the government, opposition, private sector, and public agencies. This reform should focus on expanding the tax base, enhancing revenue collection efficiency, reducing project redundancies, and reviewing extra-budgetary expenditures. He emphasized that the increase in the central budget does not imply arbitrary spending by the government; rather, it primarily covers legal obligations such as civil servant pensions, gratuities, and contributions to the civil servant pension fund, with emergency funds increasing by only 1 billion baht. Ms. Supachai Suthumpun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, outlined four major challenges the government faces: global geopolitical tensions, the energy price crisis stemming from the Middle East situation, the transition to an aging society, and the struggle to escape the middle-income trap. She stated that despite limited budgetary resources, the government must simultaneously address short-term problems and lay the groundwork for long-term development. Examples of initiatives include cost-of-living reduction measures, stabilizing agricultural product prices, upgrading supply chains, promoting model agricultural communities, fostering SMEs, and cracking down on nominee businesses, all requiring inter-ministerial cooperation. The Ministry of Commerce affirmed its commitment to exploring new export markets while maintaining existing ones, and to leveraging technology and AI to enhance service delivery and data management, thereby improving national transparency and competitiveness. Source: INN News