Democrat MP and former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Friday the government should rethink its plan to raise another 1.6 trillion baht in loans by cabinet decree to finance infrastructure development megaprojects.

He said the government should instead use the annual fiscal budget, which has a better monitoring system and is more transparent than a cabinet decree.

Mr Korn said the cabient had already passed a decree to raise 350 billion baht in loans, citing an urgent need, but there had been no disbursement of this "urgent" budget in the six months since.

“There is no justification to issue an additional decree to seek loans because the government has enough in its fiscal budget for its infrastructure development projects.

“The planned additional loans could lead to problems of corruption and the money will not be used for the best benefits of the country’, he said.

Public Debt Management Office director-general Chakkrit Parapuntakul said on Friday that outstanding public debt now accounted for 42 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

He projected the figure would be no more than 45 per cent of GDP by the end of this year but it might increase to about 50 per cent next year, he added.

The government’s plan to seek 1.6 trillion baht in additional loans could raise the public debt to 60 per cent of GDP, but the public debt ratio would depend on government spending and the annual rate of economic growth, said Mr Chakkrit.

If the economy expands by five to six per cent annually, the public debt ratio would be below 60 per cent of  GDP, otherwise it would be higher than that, he added.