Government to spur Thailand's economic growth in 4th quarter

BANGKOK, October 9 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Finance, has prepared measures to stimulate the national economic expansion in the fourth quarter of this year. Speaking at a seminar in Bangkok on Thursday, Permanent Secretary for Finance Rangsan Sriworasart acknowledged that his ministry is trying to stimulate the national economy by, among other means, injecting more money into the system, especially through budget disbursements by government agencies for at least 50 per cent during the fourth quarter of this year, which represents the first quarter of the government's 2015 fiscal year, starting from October 1, 2014. Besides, Rangsan said, the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) has approved, with promotional privileges, more than 18 investment projects with their combined investment fund of over 300 billion baht, mostly development projects in special economic zones in five border Thai provinces, which will also help boost state revenues. Rangsan told the seminar, organised by the Government Pension Fund (GPF), that the moves followed his ministry's decision on revising down its national economic growth projection for this year to 1.7 per cent on average, from 2 per cent earlier forecast, due to a slow recovery of the global economy and a drop in Thai exports. Rangsan reiterated that his ministry will also go ahead with its plan to collect inheritance tax, designed for reducing the gap between the rice and the poor in the Thai society, while personal income and corporate taxes will also be revised to more appropriate rates. On a government plan to raise the value-added tax (VAT), now standing at 7 per cent, Rangsan revealed that concerned officials are calculating how much the VAT should be raised to sufficiently fund national development projects to a certain extent as planned. On the other hand, the senior official noted, state enterprises will be urged to boost their efficiency by generating more revenues, as they are considered potential in helping stimulate the national economy as witnessed by their combined revenue in the 2013 fiscal year totaling 30–40 billion baht, while the overall state revenues were about 300 billion baht lower than earlier targeted. According to the senior official, his ministry's Treasury Department has also been assigned to launch a new-round land price appraisal nationwide so that the state can collect more tax from deserted land plots. (TNA)