The Finance Ministry has proposed earmarking 100 billion baht to help alleviate the burden of the underprivileged and those suffering from "economic fatigue".
A vendor prepares ingredients for 'somtam'. The government is considering a 100-billion-baht scheme to assist low-income earners. SEKSAN ROJJANAMETAKUN
Given the fragile state of the economic recovery, the government needs a budget clearly identified for the purpose of helping the poor in their daily lives, Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said yesterday.
He said the prime minister alone would be authorised to use the special budget.
At present, the use of the central budget for emergency cases under the prime minister's mandate has too wide of a scope and can even be spent on military and police affairs, in addition to natural disaster relief.
The military-run government has focused on helping the poor and narrowing economic and social inequality, which is largely blamed for the polarisation of Thais over the past 10 years or so.
But critics have remarked that several projects introduced by the present government such as cash handouts to rice and rubber farmers meet the definition of pork barrelling.
Mr Sommai said the government could seek additional funding from the Government Savings Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), setting aside a budget for the next fiscal year to repay them if the special budget was insufficient for the current fiscal year.
Repayment of borrowing used for spending on non-investment projects such as the rice-pledging scheme and free fares for public buses and trains ideally should take place in the following fiscal year, but governments in the past have never paid off the debt in the short run, leaving 700-800 billion baht in obligations now.
Mr Sommai said it could take up to two decades to retire those debts.
Regarding the 40 billion baht in cash giveaways to rice farmers, the government plans to set aside part of the fiscal-2016 budget to pay off principal and interest incurred on loans from the BAAC.
Mr Sommai said a proposal to set up a fund to encourage low-income earners to pursue self-sufficiency would likely receive approval by next month.
He said the government's budget should be spent prudently and not used to fund pork-barrel projects but acknowledged a fine line separates populist policies from projects aimed at helping people.