Following a heated debate, Thailand’s House of Representatives voted today, by 297:164 and one abstention, to pass the second and final readings of the government’s 122 billion baht supplementary budget bill, to fund the “digital wallet” scheme.
The House also approved the House scrutiny committee’s observations about the extra budget.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat thanked the MPs for supporting the bill and promised to take into consideration the comments and observations made by MPs during the debate.
He assured the House that the government will ensure that the budget is spent efficiently and transparently for the utmost benefit of the people and the country.
Meanwhile, Move Forward Party deputy leader Sirikanya Tansakul told parliament today that they cannot accept the government’s request for a Bt122 billion supplementary budget allocation, to fund the digital wallet scheme, and would like it trimmed to just Bt10 billion.
During the debate in the second reading of the mid-year supplementary budget bill, Sirikanya said the government should not borrow any more money, because Thailand’s public debt has almost reached the ceiling.
She noted that, for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, the amount of money set aside for interest payments is insufficient, adding that interest payments for the 2026 fiscal year are estimated at Bt370 billion, accounting for 12% of the government’s revenues and this amount will soar to about 500 billion baht in the 2028 fiscal year.
“All the government’s revenues will be used to settle interest due, leaving barely any for other activities,” she said, warning that this problem will be binding on future governments as well.
The Move Forward party-list MP said she wonders whether the majority of the House scrutiny committee has ever reassessed the revenues to be collected this fiscal year, noting the Excise Department’s tax collection, so far, has fallen short of the target by almost Bt60 billion.
Secondly, Sirikanya said that, even if the government can borrow more this fiscal year, the money must be spent within this fiscal year.
She further said that spending on the digital wallet scheme is not spending for investment, as maintained by the majority of the House scrutiny committee, which is supportive of the scheme.
Sirikanya said that the government should have told parliament the truth; that it is in need of the supplementary budget to save face after having promised the scheme to the people as its flagship election policy.
Instead, she said the government has tried to distort the law for expediency, in complete disregard of fiscal discipline.
To sum up, the Move Forward MP said the scheme is not worth the huge expenditure, estimated at about Bt450 billion, adding the government has avoided proper assessment of the financial worthiness of the scheme by simply claiming that it has never been tried before and, therefore, cannot be assessed.
