The government's controversial rice pledging scheme took centre stage yesterday after Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom brushed aside comments from a Prime Minister's Office minister about the stockpile's sale.
Mr Boonsong said his ministry takes full responsibility for the government rice stockpile, so PM's Office Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan is out of line by suggesting the government needs to cut its losses by selling the rice at market prices.
"He has nothing to do with the rice pledging scheme. The prime minister only assigned him to coordinate with the Finance Ministry for accounting for the rice pledging scheme, which is already finished," said Mr Boonsong.
He added the task of reducing the stockpile remains the Commerce Ministry's duty under cabinet supervision. It needs to make money from inventory sales to repay pledging costs to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
"However, I never said we would make a profit from the stockpile," said Mr Boonsong.
Mr Niwatthamrong insisted he was assigned to be the coordinator for financial matters on the project for cooperation between the Commerce and Finance Ministries, as well as the BAAC.
He acknowledged the government will definitely see a loss from rice pledging and added: "We will try to keep the loss below 100 billion baht."