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To meet campaign promises spending will rise to 60 billion baht and corporate income taxes fall to 20% from 30%.

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PUBLIC SPENDING: Budget overhaul in pipeline, Pheu Thai policies to be factored in by Wichit Chantanusornsiri

The Pheu Thai Party plans a complete overhaul of the fiscal 2012 budget to revise spending programmes in line with the next government's pro-growth policies.

Party sources said the budget, to take effect in October and drafted by the outgoing Democrat-led government, would be "completely remade" to support Pheu Thai's Vision 2020 to double the size of the economy by the end of the decade.

"Certainly we may have to raise spending by more than 2.25 trillion baht [as set under the current budget]," said one senior party executive.

The existing fiscal 2012 budget estimates revenue at 1.9 trillion baht and a deficit of 350 billion.

But Pheu Thai believes that if it can increase revenue, then it will have room to raise spending while maintaining the existing deficit forecast.

The party, which intends to nominate Yingluck Shinawatra as prime minister once the Election Commission formally certifies the July 3 election results, campaigned on a pro-growth platform with significant new public spending aimed at low-income groups.

It envisages nominal economic growth, or gross domestic product growth including inflation at 9%, compared with 7% set by the Democrats in the existing budget bill

Pheu Thai plans to more than double the size of the Thai economy, now at 10 trillion baht, to 24 trillion by 2020.

Party executives say they will also rethink Abhisit Vejjajiva's plans to return to a balanced budget by fiscal 2015

"There's no reason to be serious about the timeline. We could delay that target by a year or two in order to help facilitate stimulus spending that would help meet the growth target," said the Pheu Thai executive.

The source declined to be identified due to a communications blackout by the party as negotiations continue on the formation of the new cabinet among the five coalition partners.

"Our focus is to position Thailand as the centre of Asean, and pushing growth higher is a critical part of this plan," said the official.

Senior Finance Ministry officials have already begun preliminary work on how to adjust tax and spending policies.

One ministry official estimates spending may have to rise by at least 60 billion baht in fiscal 2012 to help the government meet some of its campaign promises.

A pledge to lift civil servants' starting salaries to 15,000 baht for university graduates would potentially cost an additional 15.2 billion baht a year, while raising pension payments for the elderly could add another 13.2 billion to the current 41 billion annually.

Pheu Thai's plan to increase backing for village funds by one million baht apiece would cost 79.2 billion baht, although this could be financed by borrowing from state-owned banks to reduce the burden on the state budget.

Other spending items now under review include a 7.68-billion-baht proposal to strengthen local administrative bodies and a plan to set up a 100-million-baht women's support fund in all 77 provinces.

But the biggest expense would be Pheu Thai's new public investments, which include plans for 10 new mass-transit routes in Bangkok, high-speed rail lines nationwide and a massive sea wall and land reclamation project for the Gulf of Thailand.

While the party has said new megaproject investments would be public-private partnerships, it is inevitable that some expenses will come from the central budget.

On the revenue side, Pheu Thai is committed to cutting corporate income taxes to 23% in fiscal 2012 and 20% in 2013 from 30% now.

Party economists say that while the new rates would reduce public revenue in the short term, taxes should eventually rebound if investment and consumption increase as expected with stronger economic growth.

(Source: Bangkok Post, PUBLIC SPENDING, Budget overhaul in pipeline, Pheu Thai policies to be factored in, 18/07/2011, Wichit Chantanusornsiri, link)

overhaul - repair completely and rebuild; improve something so that every part of it works properly ปรับปรุงใหม่

makeover - a complete change, transformation or remodeling of something, especially a person's hairstyle, makeup, or clothes (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

in pipeline - being planned (working on something that is not yet complete)
factor in X to Y - add X to Y

fiscal - connected with the government budget, i.e., public money เกี่ยวกับงบประมาณ
fiscal year - the period of time that government spending budgets are made for 
budget - the amounts of money that an organisation has available to spend on different things during a period งบประมาณ (See Wikipedia)
fiscal 2012 budget - the official government plan on how it will spend money on various projects and programmes

revise - make changes to something and create a new version
revise spending programmes - change the amounts of money the government will spend on various projects  

in line with - agreeing with, following
pro-growth policies - economic policies that claim to make the economy grow fast  

take effect - start, begin operating
drafted - to write up an official document
support - help สนับสนุน
double - to become twice as big, twice as much or twice as many เพิ่มเป็นสองเท่า
decade - a period of ten years ทศวรรษ

current - of the present time ปัจจุบัน
current budget - the plans for spending government money that exist now

party - one of the people or groups of people involved in an official argument, arrangement or similar situation คู่กรณี
executive - the highest level managers in an organization
senior party executive - one of the highest level managers in a political party

estimates - guesses of what the size, value, amount, cost, etc. of something might be การประมาณค่า

revenue - income from taxes or business activities รายได้
deficit - when money spent (going out) is greater than revenues (taxes coming in), so must borrow money to pay for it (finance deficit)

have room (to do something) - have the flexibility to do (not limited or constrained in a way that makes it impossible)
have room to raise spending - it is possible to spend more money (not constrained or limited)
forecast - what experts believe will happen in the future; statement about what will happen in the future based on information available now พยากรณ์

intends to - plans to do
nominate - to formally propose someone for a job; officially suggest that someone should be given a job เสนอชื่อ; เสนอชื่อบุคคลเข้ารับตำแหน่ง

election - the process of choosing a person or a group of person for a position, especially by voting elect (v) electoral (adj) synonym: the polls การเลือกตั้ง
election results - who wins and loses the election
certifies election results - officially accepts the election results (does not find any wrongdoing)

policy platform - the list of projects and goals a political party plans to achieve
pro-growth platform - pro-growth policy platform

significant - important สำคัญ
income - money that people receive from work or some other source, used for household consumption and savings

envisage - see or imagine something happening in the future

real - adjusting for inflation (so the amounts in different years can be compared, if the economy doubles in size, the actual increase in income, spending power and wealth has to be reduced by inflation which makes this income worth less)
nominal -  notadjusted for inflation (so comparison between years is not really meaningful)

nominal economic growth - gross domestic product growth including inflation

domestic - within the country ภายในประเทศ
gross domestic product - the total value of the goods and services produced by a country in one year  
inflation - the level of prices rising in the economy as a whole (See Economist Glossary) ภาวะเงินเฟ้อ

bill - a written document containing a proposal for a new law ญัตติ
budget bill - the law that gives the government authority to spend money

balanced budget - when the government spends no more money than it received in taxes
executives - a high level manager in a company (making plans and ensuring they executed successfully) ผู้บริหาร
there's no reason to be serious about Y - we don't have to be serious about Y

timeline - schedule (for completing projects, goals, campaign promises)
serious about the timeline - serious about the schedule (finishing tasks on time)
not serious about the timelime -

stimulus - money spent by the government to increase economic growth
delay - to make something happen at a later time than originally planned or expected เลื่อน

target - a goal; the amount you are planning to achieve เป้าหมาย
delay target - delay the goal (achieve goal or target later than scheduled)
meet the growth target - achieve the goal of growth (planned earlier; set earlier)

facilitate - to make it possible or easier for something to happen ทำให้สะดวกขึ้น ทำให้ง่าย

source - someone who gives information แหล่งข่าว
identified - named ระบุชื่อ
the source declined to be identified - the person who gave the information would not let his or her name be used in the article

communications blackout by the party - the political party made a rule that no information should be given out now
negotiations - formal discussion in which people or groups try to reach an agreement การเจรจาต่อรอง (See Wikipedia)

coalition - coalition government, a government formed by two or more political parties working together รัฐบาลหลายพรรค
coalition partners - all the political parties forming the coalition government

focus - the main thing that someone is concerned with or working on ให้ความสำคัญ

position Thailand as the centre of Asean - make Thailand the most important country in ASEAN (economically?)
critical - extremely important because a future situation will be affected by it สำคัญยิ่ง

preliminary - an event or action that introduces or prepares for something else ขั้นต้น, ขั้นแรก
adjust - to change something slightly, especially to make it more correct, effective, or suitable ปรับ
ministry - a government department dealing with an area of activity กระทรวง

campaign - a planned series of activities designed to persuade voters to vote for a particular candidate or political party การรณรงค์หาสียง
campaign promises - things promised to get votes in an election

pledge - to make a serious promise to do something สัญญา

civil servant - a government worker
lift civil servants' starting salaries - the salary that government worker first receives when they begin work

potentially - possible in the future ที่อาจเกิดขึ้นได้
pension - a regular payment by a company or the government to people after their retirement เงินบำเหน็ด บำนาญ (See Wikipedia)
elderly - older people, over 65 สูงวัย, อาวุโส, อายุมาก
annually - happening every year ทุกๆปีด

backing - support, help สนับสนุน
funds - money provided for something เงินทุน กองทุน
burden - a responsibility, a difficult thing that must be done, a heavy load to carry (See glossary) ภาระ

under review - assessing, evaluating (looking at it carefully to make a decision about it)
proposal - a plan or suggestion for a group to consider ข้อเสนอ
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น

mass - large numbers จำนวนมหาศาล
transit - the act of moving from one place to another การเดินทางผ่าน

mass transit routes - train, subway and bus systems in that can be used to move large numbers of people around the city quickly

nationwide - throughout a whole country ทั่วทั้งประเทศ

massive - very large มหาศาล
sea wall - a big wall to hold back the water from the sea
land reclamation - filling in the sea with land that can be used to build on (thus expanding the city)
inevitable - certain to happen, unavoidable ซึ่งหลีกเลี่ยงไม่ได้

committed - promised to do something (and will not change their mind in the future)

reduce public revenue in the short term - the government will receive less money to begin with
eventually - at the end of a period of time or at the end of a process ในที่สุด
rebound - rise again after falling การฟื้นตัวของเศรษฐกิจ, เพิ่มขึ้นอีกครั้ง หลังจากมีการปรับลดราคาไป

investment - taking your money and putting it into projects to make a profit or earn interest (buying stock shares, bonds, real estate)
consumption - using, eating or drinking something การบริโภค money spent by households and families on goods and services (See Wikipedia)
expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)

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