Unused expenditure budgets worth up to 7.9 billion baht will be transferred to the contingency budget after it was not disbursed as planned.
The National Legislative Assembly voted on Thursday to pass the draft legalising the transfer as requested by the cabinet.
The law allows the transfer of up to 7.92 billion baht in unspent budgets of government agencies and state enterprises to the contingency budget, set aside for emergencies and off-budget projects.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam on Thursday thanked lawmakers for the passage. "The act seeks to reform the country's budget system. But the goal is also to send a signal to government agencies that once the budget bill is passed, they have to speed up spending it to stimulate the economy."
"This is a major budget transfer in 50 years. We hope we won't have to do this again," Mr Wissanu said.
Delays in budget disbursements, especially for investment, are a perennial problem of Thai bureaucracy. Many government agencies are unable to use up their budgets due to the lengthy bidding process required by law to prevent corruption. Furthermore, since the spending will be checked by the Auditor-General's Office, officials are extremely cautious with the spending. Misappropriation of the funds, whether intentionally or not, could easily land them in jail.
Political instability is another reason. Some officials are not so keen to follow policies of a government it knows will not last long, or to implement projects they know would be scrapped or reversed when the political wind changes.