The cabinet yesterday approved the establishment of a new office to handle income disparity as part of government efforts to narrow the income gap.
According to Prime Minister's Office Minister Kobsak Pootrakool, the new office will be under the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and supervised by an income disparity reduction policy committee chaired by the prime minister.
The government's income disparity reduction is required to conform to the country's 20-year national strategy.
According to Mr Kobsak, the new Income Disparity Office will work closely with the Budget Bureau to ensure the efficient use of the fiscal budget in reducing income disparity.
In 2019, the budget relating to income disparity reduction is estimated at 800 billion baht, 500 billion baht of which will be allocated to state welfare schemes such as the 30-baht public healthcare programme and social welfare for children, the elderly and the disabled, and 397.5 billion baht to battle poverty and disparity via Pracha Rat and other public-private collaborative projects.
Mr Kobsak said income disparity remained unimproved over the past 25 years, though the number of people below the poverty line dropped.
There were 6 million Thais living below the poverty line, defined as income of 2,667 baht a month, in 2016, down from 34.1 million in 1991.
But the income gap between the richest 20% of the population and the poorest 20% remained higher than 11 times and never changed over the last 25 years.
The richest 20% of the population own 8% of the land plots nationwide and have an average income of 20,000 baht a month, while the poorest 20% own 0.25% of total land and have an average income of 2,000 baht a month.
Some 500,000 accounts hold deposits of more than 10 million baht, while 86 million accounts have less than 5,000 baht in deposits.
The Prayut Chan-o-cha government has spent 400-500 billion baht for cash handouts and welfare for the poor since taking over in 2014, but state expenditure for national social assistance schemes is too small and not directed to those who are really in need, said Somchai Jitsuchon, research director for inclusive development at the Thailand Development Research Institute.
Social expenditure for OECD countries averages 20% of GDP, he said, but Thailand's is 7.8%.
The government needs to pump an additional 350 billion baht into its social budget to raise the ratio to 10%, Mr Somchai said.
Solutions include slashing the defence budget and raising taxes, he said.