The Senate has warned the rice-pledging scheme could sink the nation deeper into debt.
Senators told a general debate yesterday they believe the government is trying to conceal its mistake by keeping its attempts to export pledged rice a secret.
The Senate started its debate on the government's performance yesterday.
The debate will continue next Wednesday after the opposition's censure debate from tomorrow until Tuesday.
The debate started yesterday afternoon with between three and six cabinet ministers listening to each speaker. In total, 56 senators will speak in the debate.
Appointed senator Paibul Nititawan, who proposed the debate motion, raised concerns over the rice-pledging scheme.
He said the fake registration of pledged rice and irregularities in rice moisture measurement by millers were trivial issues compared to concerns over the government's attempts to sell pledged rice. He said he wanted to investigate the matter and directed an inquiry to the director-general of the Department of Internal Trade, who said the rice sale deals by the government were secret.
"The reply is that government-to-government [G-to-G] rice trade has never been revealed. It is a highly sensitive issue of international politics," he said.
"It sounds like the secret service. It becomes a secret trade and its information is kept in confidence.
"The practice should not have occurred, because there will certainly be problems when information is revealed."
He doubted whether the government could really export pledged rice through the G-to-G deals as it has announced.
Mr Paibul also cited a warning from the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) that the rice scheme could saddle the country with huge debts.
"The TDRI estimated losses from the rice scheme would be around 6,000-7,000 baht per tonne of paddy. This amounts to nearly 200 billion baht of losses per year or 800 billion baht during the four-year term of this government," he said.
"If you focus only on electoral windfalls and the traders who are benefitting, and overlook the burden on taxpayers, you will surely have problems because this is quickly raising public debt."
Appointed senator Wicharn Sirichai-ekwat said the government could not continue indefinitely with the loss-making policy.
He urged the government to review the rice-pledging scheme rather than conceal information about it.
Buri Ram senator Thaweesak Kidbanjong said he wondered whether the national economy would eventually collapse if the government kept borrowing to fund the scheme. He urged the government to listen to critics who were knowledgeable academics.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong defended the scheme, saying it was illogical to try to compare it to the previous government's rice price guarantee policy.
He said it was misleading to say the price guarantee scheme did not incur losses, as the opposite was true.
Mr Kittiratt explained losses occur only when the rice is sold for less than the pledged rates.