Thailand's corruption situation has improved after the government's efforts to tackle the issue by imposing heavy penalties on perpetrators, particularly through the use of Section 44.
The latest survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) found that bribes by businesses to state officials and politicians had declined to an average of 10% of the procurement budget and biddings of state enterprises, equivalent to 100 billion baht and the lowest figure in six years.
Corruption was equivalent to 25-35% from 2010-13, costing the country 323-330 billion baht annually.
Tea money is the most common form of corruption.
The procurement budget and biddings by state enterprises are worth about 1 trillion baht in the 2015 fiscal year, with the figures in the previous two years about 942 billion baht.
Sauwanee Thairungroj, president of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the corruption situation index (CSI), which was based on 2,400 respondents in the business and government sectors nationwide, improved to 55 points from 49 in January.
The closer a CSI score is to zero, the higher the level of corruption, while 100 shows high transparency and a lack of graft.
Ms Sauwanee attributed the improved corruption situation mainly to the current government's commitment to tackle corruption, particularly through the use of Section 44.
She urged the government to continue exercising decisive law enforcement, deliver maximum penalties to bribe payers, promote the participation of non-profit organisations, people and business networks to supervise and inspect corruption practices, promote a sense of honesty and improve the state's bidding and procurement procedures.
She also proposed the government offer higher salaries to low-ranking state officials.
Thanavath Phonvichai, vice-president for research and director of the UTCC Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, said the improvement in the corruption situation was partially because of limited channels for bribe payments after the National Council for Peace and Order became serious about tackling corruption, which frightened businesses away from paying kickbacks.
"The improvement is a good sign, as the government could use such money to stimulate the economy,'' said Mr Thanavath. "We fully hope that an elected government will continue the commitment to tackling the corruption problems."