Four state economic agencies endorsed the framework of the fiscal 2024 budget on Wednesday, with state expenditure set at 3.35 trillion baht and a budget deficit of 593 billion baht.
The fiscal 2024 budget will be proposed to the cabinet for approval at its meeting next Tuesday.
The four agencies comprise the Finance Ministry, Budget Bureau, Bank of Thailand (BoT), and the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC).
The framework of the fiscal 2024 budget is part of the medium-term fiscal policy for fiscal 2024-2027, which was approved by the cabinet on Dec 27, aiming for a significant reduction in the budget deficit to ensure fiscal stability.
The government set expenditure at 3.18 trillion baht for fiscal 2023 with a budget deficit of 695 billion baht, the latter being 5 billion baht lower than the previous fiscal year. The budget deficit of 695 billion baht is equal to 3.7% of GDP.
The government set expenditure at 3.35 trillion baht for fiscal 2024 with a budget deficit of 593 billion baht, or roughly 3% of forecast GDP.
Despite the anticipated deficit reduction in 2024, the government is maintaining an expansionary fiscal policy, and expects to collect net revenue of 2.75 trillion baht in 2024, up 10.7% from revenue projected for 2023, said Budget Bureau director Chalermphol Pensoot.
The government expects the deficit to fall to 2.79% of GDP by the end of fiscal 2027.
It also expects the ratio of public debt to GDP in fiscal 2023 to stand at 60.6% and reach 61.2% by 2027, which would still be lower than the 70% ceiling.
NESDC's secretary-general Danucha Pichayanan said the fiscal 2024 budget assumes Thai economic growth of 3.3%-4.3% in 2024, up from a 3%-4% outlook this year, a 3.2% rise in 2022, and a 1.5% uptick in 2021.
He said economic growth in 2024 would remain relatively low because of fragile global trade, which is expected to expand by 3.7% in 2024, recovering from contractions of 2.5% in 2023 and 4.5% in 2022.
According to Mr Danucha, higher government expenditure and a lower budget deficit in 2024 would benefit Thailand's fiscal and monetary status in the long term, as running the budget deficit on a continuous basis would not be good for the country.