Thailand's public debt in August was marginally down from a month before to 42.6% of total GDP, says a Finance Ministry official.
Theeraj Athanavanich, deputy director-general at the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), said the public debt report for August amounted to 5.95 trillion baht, slightly lower than 5.96 trillion or 42.9% of GDP in July.
The debt-to-GDP ratio was still well below the 60% ceiling of the Finance Ministry's fiscal sustainability framework, following debt management rules under the Public Debt Management Act.
Most of the country's public debt is government borrowing of 4.42 trillion baht, while the debt of state financial institutions guaranteed by the government amounted 507 billion. Debt of non-finance state enterprises was 995 billion baht.
Government borrowing in August increased by 18.9 billion baht, driven mainly by loans to offset the budget deficit of 1.55 billion for the 2016 fiscal year. The government plan is arranged with a focus on domestic financial liquidity, with borrowings planned to offset the budget deficit worth 390 billion baht for fiscal 2017.
The government borrowed 1.36 billion baht in August from domestic and overseas sources to finance state investment projects such as the Blue Line, Green Line and Purple Line electric train projects, in addition to the Red Line suburban railway project.
State investment and spending are crucial to maintaining Thailand's growth momentum as other engines including exports, private spending and domestic consumption remain tepid.
The PDMO previously said Thailand's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to peak at 53% in 2019, assuming the government's infrastructure investments and borrowings amount to 300-400 billion baht a year.