Thailand's coffer stands over Bt600b

BANGKOK, October 24 (TNA) - The Thai government’s treasury cash balance has exceeded 600 billion baht and total revenue stood at over 2.16 trillion baht in the 2013 fiscal year. Thai Finance Ministry Spokesman Somchai Sujjapongse, who is also Director-General of the ministry's Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), told journalists of the figures on Thursday, saying that the Thai government's total revenue in the 2013 fiscal year, from October 1, 2012-September 30, 2013, rose by 9.1 per cent from the 2012 fiscal year. Somchai pointed out that the Thai government's increased revenue resulted from rising value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax collections, showing that Thailand's economic slowdown to some extent did not have any negative impact on the government's revenues through tax collections. According to the spokesman, the Thai government disbursed about 2.4 trillion baht from the state budget in the 2013 fiscal year, a 4.7 per cent increase year-on-year, resulting in its budget deficit of 244.87 billion baht, in which a non-budget surplus of 6.51 billion baht was included, leading to the Thai government's overall cash deficit of 238.36 billion baht. The spokesman elaborated that the Thai government borrowed 281.95 billion baht to cope with the deficit, while the ceiling for its borrowing stood at 300 billion baht, resulting in its overall cash surplus of 43.59 billion baht and its treasury cash balance of 603.92 billion baht consequently. The spokesman also noted that Thailand's 2014 Budget Act takes effect sooner than expected, which will have positive impacts on the Thai government's disbursement of its budgets and will boost confidence in the Thai private sector, a major factor to help stimulate the Thai economy to grow as anticipated in 2013 and 2014. The spokesman revealed that his ministry will also urge concerned agencies to ensure their budget disbursements in the 2014 fiscal year. (TNA)