Thai cabinet approves fiscal 2021 budget

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s cabinet on January 7 approved the fiscal 2021 budget of 3.3 trillion THB (nearly 108.94 billion USD) with a deficit of 523 billion THB.

The budget for fiscal 2021 is 100 billion THB or 3.1 percent bigger than the fiscal 2020 blueprint, said Budget Bureau Director Dechapiwat Na Songkhla.

The Thai government approved a fiscal budget of 3.2 trillion THB in 2020, with a budget deficit of 469 billion THB.

He said the government set a revenue target of 2.78 trillion THB in fiscal 2021, up from 2.73 trillion THB in the current fiscal year.

The fiscal 2021 budget is based on an economic growth forecast of 3.1-4.1 percent and an inflation rate of 0.7-1.7 percent.

Public debt is estimated at 8.24 trillion THB, accounting for 45 percent of GDP, which is projected at 18.4 trillion THB in fiscal 2021.

The regular spending is set at 2.50 trillion THB in fiscal 2021, making up 76 percent of the total budget, up 116 billion THB or 4.8 percent from fiscal 2020.

The investment budget is projected at 693 billion THB, accounting for 21 percent of the total budget, up by 37 billion THB from fiscal 2020.

The budget in fiscal 2021 will focus mainly on social and economic restructuring, economic growth stability, income redistribution to remote areas, local economy development and income disparity reduction.

Dechapiwat said state agencies are required to submit their budgeting proposals for fiscal 2021 to the Budget Bureau by January 24.

He said the fiscal 2020 budget is expected to be implemented by the middle of next month.

The fiscal 2020 budget, worth 3.2 trillion THB, passed the first of three readings on October 19 in the House of Representatives./.