Salaries of Thai government officials up

BANGKOK, August 4 (TNA) - The Ministry of Finance is speeding up a process to raise the salaries of government officials, focused on those earning not higher than 9,000 baht monthly. Permanent Secretary for Finance Rungson Sriworasat told journalists on Monday that, as the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) plans to increase the salaries of government officials, he has already discussed the matter with Comptroller General Manas Jamveha and initially agreed to raise the salaries of the government officials who earn no higher than 9,000 baht a month. Rungson noted that government officials who hold the bachelor's degree have already received at least 15,000 baht monthly; so, the Ministry of Finance can make ends meet with the sum. Rungson promised to carefully consider impacts of the upcoming pay rise for government officials holding lower degrees than the bachelor's degree. According to the senior official, the Ministry of Finance will conclude the matter with concerned agencies within this week. The senior official assessed that the planned pay rise should cause an increment of some 10 billion baht to the state budget, but the state can afford it. Meanwhile, Kulit Sombatsiri, Director-General of the State Enterprise Policy Office, told reporters that the planned salary increase for government officials prompts him to consider the pay scale of state enterprise employees, but the favor will also be focused on low-income staffs. (TNA)