Rice growers from some central provinces have agreed to return home after receiving a promise from caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that long-overdue payments would be made next week.
It's not clear where the government will find the money to keep its latest pledge. It owes farmers 130 billion baht and has few options for raising new money because of its caretaker status. The deal reached yesterday applies only to some farmers.
Caretaker Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong on Friday floated the idea of selling "rice bonds" to the general public, since banks and big investors aren't interested in helping.
Chada Thaiset, a former Chartthaipattana Party MP for Uthai Thani and a leader of the rice farmers' rally, said he had received a pledge of payment in his talks with Ms Yingluck.
Rice growers from the central provinces are heading home but will head back to Suvarnabhumi Airport if they don't see some money next week. (Photo by Thiti Wannamontha)
"Ms Yingluck promised that the rice payments will be made next week," he told farmers from a stage set up at a roadside rest stop on the Asian Highway in Pang Pa-in, Ayutthaya.
Matichon quoted Mr Chada as saying the payment in question would amount to 3 billion baht for Uthai Thani farmers. He provided no details about plans to pay thousands of others.
The farmers had been threatening to descend on Suvarnabhumi Airport to step up their protest but they turned around on hearing the news from Mr Chada.
Some thought they should move on to Suvarnabhumi as planned, because they did not believe the caretaker government would be able to make the delayed payments.
It is not clear what kind of promise Mr Chada extracted from Ms Yingluck. He is angry with the Pheu Thai Party after it ran a candidate against him in the Feb 2 election, which he ended up losing.
However, the farmers promised to return and to rally at the international airport if they do not get paid next week as promised.
Mr Kittiratt, meanwhile, held talks on Friday about a plan to sell state rice scheme bonds.
Those taking part included deputy finance ministers Thanusak Lekuthai and Benja Louicharoen, representatives from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and other state agencies.
Mr Kittiratt said officials were now preparing details of a bond issue, including consideration on an attractive interest rate. A final decision is expected within seven to eight weeks, he added.
The caretaker administration, he said, had the authority to sell the rice scheme bonds, which would be offered for sale mainly to retail investors.
Big institutional investors and state-owned enterprises were not the targets, he said.
The caretaker finance minister has been struggling to find anyone to lend the government money to meet its rice pledging obligations.
Both state and commercial banks have rejected loan requests because of the perceived risk. Mr Kittiratt also lobbied cash-rich Airports of Thailand Plc to buy bonds but was turned down.
The minister said, however, that he was confident that a large number of people were interested in providing assistance for the suffering rice farmers.
He repeated the claim that if protesters had not obstructed the efforts of the government over the past two months, all of the payments would have been made.
He also called on former finance ministers Thanong Bidaya and Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala to refrain from criticising the government. They have said it would not be able to make the rice payments as planned.
Meanwhile, another group of rice growers has filed a petition with the Office of the Auditor-General asking it to investigate alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme and seek measures to help them promptly.
Rawee Ruangruang, chairman of the Network of Thai Farmers and a member of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), said no state agencies had paid the money owed to rice growers because the government intended to take advantage of them for personal gain.
Mr Rawee said the farmers wanted the auditor-general to take legal action against corrupt officials involved in the scheme.
Chalermsak Chantaratim, secretary-general of the Office of the Auditor-General, received the farmers' petition.
The video clip above shows rice farmers protesting against the government on Feb 21, 2014. (Bangkok Post video)