Government House, "Phao Bhum" confirms that the government prioritizes "restructuring" in parallel with distributing money to "increase purchasing power" after the Governor of the Bank of Thailand reflects on the Thai economy, emphasizing that everything will be clear on July 24, while the retirement lottery will enter the Cabinet next week. Mr. Phao Bhum Rojanasakul, Deputy Minister of Finance, talked about the 2024 budget, which requires a central budget of approximately 53 billion baht. How prepared is the government for the digital wallet? Mr. Phao Bhum said that it must be taken care of and managed in addition to the 122 billion baht. Everything is in the process. Mr. Pao Bhum continued that there is still more central budget than needed. He confirmed that on July 24, the Prime Minister will chair a press conference to clarify the budget, including identity confirmation and registration, which he sees as a quick process that is not too slow. When there is registration and identity confirmation, the ac tual number of eligible persons will be known, which will be reflected in the budget used for further management. When asked whether the government must know the number of eligible people before considering the budget, Mr. Pao Bhumi said that was not true. The budget has already been allocated. They are two separate matters but are linked in terms of spending. Therefore, the identity verification figures will indicate how much of the additional budget for 2024 and the deficit budget for 2025 will need to be spent. The reporter asked about the case of people being deceived into registering to check their rights in the said project. Mr. Pao Bhum said that as of today, there is still no opening for identity verification. Please wait until July 24 for the process of identity verification, when and how, and which application to use, including what evidence is required to verify identity. Everything will be clear on that day. The reporter asked about the process of examining the Bank for Agriculture and Agricult ural Cooperatives (BAAC). Mr. Pao Bhum said that it is still in the process and the budget is being considered. Please wait until July 24 for clarity. As for the case where the Governor of the Bank of Thailand came out to reflect the economic situation, saying that debt structure must be solved, and handing out money to the people would not help, Mr. Pao Bhumi said that there was an informal discussion confirming that the government has done a lot in terms of infrastructure, according to the IGNITE Thailand policy, which is related to restructuring. Therefore, the accusation that the government has been negligent is completely contrary to the facts. 'I would like to emphasize that the government is giving importance to restructuring, but it must be done in conjunction with the purchasing power of the people. These two things must be done together. The government is adding money, so the government adding money to the people, the people, and making the people have purchasing power, both in the short and mediu m term, is essential for restructuring.' When asked whether the clarification would be sent to the Bank of Thailand, Mr. Pao Bhumi said that there were regular discussions. There were still disagreements. As for today's retirement lottery, there was no discussion in the cabinet meeting. At first, it was going to be discussed in the cabinet meeting today. However, since we did not receive all the opinions from the agencies, we had to wait for the opinions of the other 3 agencies. I would like to emphasize that it is in accordance with the government process and is being expedited. This matter must be brought to the cabinet meeting within the next week (July 16, 2024). Source: Thai News Agency
Sunday, September 08, 2024