Illustrative image (Photo: The Nation/Asia News Network) Bangkok (VNA) -The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) will slash its fiscal 2020 budget by 33 percent(equivalent to 4,100 billion THB or 126 million USD) to help the governmentfight COVID-19, said Vice Admiral Prachachat Sirisawat, the Navy's spokesman, onApril 18.
Thegovernment has asked all ministries to cut their budgets and contribute theexcess to the central budget to help compensate the general public whose liveshave been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, or to be used in emergencysituations, he said.
Commander-in-Chief of theRTN, Admiral Luechai Rutdit, therefore ordered the Navy to cut its budget for2020 by 33 percent — by 4.1 billion THB — which is higher than what thegovernment has asked.
RTN will also postponethe procurement of the second and third submarines to 2021 although thepurchases were to be made from the RTN’s own budget and not of the Ministry ofDefense, the spokesman added.
This also means othersubmarine-related projects will be suspended too, such as the construction of submarinebays and maintenance facilities.
Other Navy projects thatwill be affected by the budget cut include: anti-submarine helicopters’overhaul, network centric database system, training equipment procurement, andthe construction of apartments for RTN personnel, he said.
Thailandon April 19 reported 32 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 2,765, with47 deaths, according to spokesperson for the Thai government's Centre forCOVID-19 Situation Administration Taweesin Wisanuyothin./.
VNA
