BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s budget of 3.48 trillion baht ($99.74 billion) for the 2024 fiscal year is expected to be ready in early May, a deputy finance minister said on Wednesday.
The spending budget has been delayed from the original Oct. 1 start date, due to an election in May and a long period under a caretaker government.
Julapun Amornvivat told reporters that since there would be no government budget until early May, the country needed economic stimulus at the beginning of the year.
He said a planned tax deduction of up to 50,000 baht for buyers of certain goods and services between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 should increase spending by 70 billion baht, adding 0.18 percentage point to economic growth.
In October, the finance ministry predicted economic growth of 3.2% in 2024, but it has yet to price in the effect of the government’s flagship “digital wallet” handout scheme.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, a real estate tycoon and political newcomer, has said the economy is in “crisis”.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy grew a slower-than- expected 1.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace this year, on weak exports and government spending.
($1 = 34.89 baht)
(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon and Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
