Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjjajiva condemned the government’s plan to cut the budget spending deficit by 50 billion baht while adding to the cost of living with a rise in the prices of diesel and cooking gas.
Abhisit: Wealth will be concentrated while the poverty will be distributed widely. Photo by Thiti Wannamontha.
Replying to the prime minister's presentation of the government's fiscal 2014 Budget Bill, Mr Abhisit said the government plans to collect excise tax on diesel of 1.50 baht a litre starting from Oct 1, 2013, the beginning of fiscal year 2014.
Thailand uses around 20,000 million litres of diesel each year, so 30 billion baht will be added to the government’s coffers by this tariff, he said.
“This is the first gift that the government will give to the public. With rising diesel prices, the cost to the private sector will rise and consequently the prices of goods will also increase,” he said.
Another issue is the planned increase in cooking gas by the Energy Ministry, that will be implemented. Mr Abhisit believed the public will have to pay around 10 baht more for a kilogramme of cooking gas, or LPG, by next year.
He said his party has a different policy. Cooking gas is important to people throughout the country, so they should be able to use it at cost price, but the government wants to raise the cost to match the price of LPG used in the transport sector, and later to raise it further to the same price charged to industrial users.
On the assumption that Thailand consumes around 3,000 million kilogrammes of cooking gas a year, another 30 billion baht will be collected as government revenue, the opposition leader said.
Mr Abhisit said the government has continued its style of budget management, with the focus on loans to the public, such as the new women's development fund, of which 80% is for loan extensions.
The government also emphasised investment in megaprojects and spending on populist policies such as the rice pledging scheme.
“With this budget planning, the result is no sustainable economic growth. So the wealth will be concentrated while the poverty will be distributed widely,” he said.