The government's revenue collection exceeded its target by 0.7% for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 thanks to higher than expected tax revenue and state enterprises' remittance, says a senior official at the Finance Ministry.
The government garnered net revenue of 588 billion baht during the October-to-December quarter, surpassing the target by 3.85 billion, said director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office Lavaron Sangsnit. This amount was 41.3 billion baht or 7.5% higher than a year earlier.
The three tax-collecting agencies -- the Revenue Department, the Excise Department and the Customs Department -- managed to amass a combined 572 billion baht for the three months through December, up 10.7% year-on-year and outpacing the target by 0.7%.
The higher tax revenue was attributed to petroleum tax, value-added tax, excise tax on cars and the tobacco tax.
The Revenue Department, the country's largest tax-collecting unit, collected 412 billion baht during the quarter, rising 11.3% from a year earlier and beating the target by 0.9%, he said.
The Excise Department's tax revenue for the three months to December amounted to 131 billion baht, up 11.6% from the previous year and 0.7% higher than the target. The Customs Department collected 28.6 billion baht, up 0.4% year-on-year but below the target by 2.5%.
State enterprises' remittance for the period rose by 22.1 billion baht or 51% from a year earlier.
The Public Debt Management Office reported the country's public debt amounted to 6.83 trillion baht, some 41.8% of GDP, at the end of December.
In related news, the State Enterprise Policy Office clarified that Thailand Future Fund's (TFFIF) initial public offering (IPO) units had not been earmarked for any particular persons, said deputy director Chanvit Nakburee.
His comment came after independent lecturer Pramote Nakornthab's Facebook fanpage had a comment that the TFFIF's recent fundraising was in favour of some investor groups.
TFFIF mobilised 44.7 billion baht through the IPO by allocating 2.3 billion units to retail investors under a small-lots-first basis.
Cornerstone investors took up 1.81 billion units of TFFIF and the Finance Ministry bought 357 million units.
TFFIF initially invested in a 30-year right to earn 45% of future revenue from Chalong Rat Expressway and Burapha Withi Expressway.