Thai government mulls to expand national development plans to five-year period

BANGKOK, August 14 (TNA) - The Thai government is considering to expand the period of the national economic and social development plans from four years to five years each in the future. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Visanu Krue-ngam, who oversees legal affairs, told journalists that he will soon propose the amendment of the Thai junta's laws to expand the national economic and social development plans to the five-year period to be in line with a newly-tailored national development strategy. Dr. Visanu said that the Thai government is also considering to expedite the implementation of 37 issues under a national master plan. The deputy prime minister revealed that he will assign a task force in charge of national reforms to conduct reports on planned operations and problems of the implementation of the 37 issues in order to seek a state budget to finance the operations and solve the problems accordingly. According to the deputy premier, the 37 issues include the agricultural, industrial, commercial and environmental development, as well as the reduction of poverty and social disparity, as latest official surveys have found that about 1.2 million Thai citizens need state welfare support. Meanwhile, Thai Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Kobsak Pootrakool told reporters that he is proposing the setting up of a national panel tasked with reducing the poverty in the country in order to seek a state budget support to run the panel within the 2020 fiscal year. (TNA)