The cabinet has set aside a further 15 billion baht to pump into village economies to help them cope with the deepening economic slump. Villages have been promised more money by the Abhisit government than they received under the Thaksin Shinawatra administration and the two governments which followed it and which were both close to the former premier.
The additional funding announced yesterday is part of the mid-year budget of 115 billion baht soon to be tabled for approval by parliament.
It will be spent through the government's Sufficiency Economy Fund to stimulate the economy of each village.
The fund calls for small villages to receive 400,000 baht each, twice the amount they received from the governments led by the Thai Rak Thai and People Power parties. A medium-sized village would receive 500,000 baht, while large villages would get 600,000 baht.
The government also has a six-billion-baht surplus budget, which was originally meant for the now-dissolved Small, Medium and Large (SML) project. The SML project was designed by Thaksin.
The Democrat-led government adopted and renamed the SML project the Sufficiency Economy Fund soon after it came to power last month.
Deputy Prime Minister Kobsak Sabhavasu was assigned to oversee rural development projects run by the fund.
The Kobsak panel includes Kanok Wongtrangarn, an adviser to the prime minister, and Mechai Viravaidya, director of the Population and Community Development Association, deputy government spokesman Supaluck Kuanha said.
''A lot of investment is about to flow into these villages which should help create more jobs,'' Mr Supaluck said.
But Thanavath Phonvichai, director of the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, was concerned villagers would spend the money recklessly if the government had no effective measures to monitor their expenditure.
Puea Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan called on the public to help monitor the spending of taxpayers' money.
About the author
- Writer: ANUCHA CHAROENPO
