Thai Cabinet plans to allocate Bt20b for payment to farmers

BANGKOK, February 25 (TNA) - The Cabinet plans to allocate about 20 billion baht from a contingency budget for payment to farmers who sold their grains to the official rice-pledging scheme. The Cabinet discussed the plan at its meeting at the headquarters of the Royal Thai Air Force in Bangkok's Don Muang area on Tuesday morning, chaired by Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and attended by all her Cabinet members. At the meeting, Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan asked for 10-20 billion baht from the state contingency budget to pay farmers for their pledged rice, after the National Rice Policy Committee resolved at its meeting on Monday to seek the budget from the caretaker government for the rice payment. The Cabinet then endorsed the allocation and it has now sought a final approval from the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) for the spending, as the government is playing its caretaker role and is unable to allocate special spending at will. The caretaker government plans to repay the sum to the contingency budget when it raises money from selling pledged rice in the future. Meanwhile, the EC also sought the Cabinet's approval of a 1.4-billion baht-fund to be spent on organizing the new senatorial election on March 30, 2014. (TNA)