Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak plans to call a meeting next week with related state agencies to prod them to speed up disbursement of the fiscal 2018 budget, as the budget period ends in two months.
Budget disbursement has to be accelerated in the latter half of the year to boost economic growth past 4%, he said.
However, he admitted the stricter Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act has had a knock-on effect on budget disbursement, particularly for state agencies in the second and third quarter this year.
The new Act, which came into effect on Aug 23, is centred on preventing corruption and anti-competitive behaviour, with an increased level of transparency and monitoring. The Act completely replaces the long-standing procurement regulations of the Office of the Prime Minister Act of 1978 to cover more than 90% of government purchases and construction projects, large or small, across the country.
New to the government procurement process is criminal penalties for government officials. Those criminal penalties have been extended to private sector players who give bribes.
Mr Somkid said the investment infrastructure will be a significant factor driving the economy this year to grow more than 4%.
Wednesday he met related agencies on rail, road, and port development and ordered them to speed up the implementation of infrastructure projects, as well as infrastructure projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor.
Mr Somkid said the government still has more room to finance the investment projects given the relatively low public debt-to-GDP ratio of only 40% in the first quarter.
Other economic factors are also promising, such as exports, tourism and private investment, he said.
Suttirat Rattanachot, head of the Comptroller-General's Department, recently said state agencies are expected to draw down just 70% of this fiscal year's annual investment budget, well below the target of 87%.
For October to May, a mere 37.1% of the annual investment budget was taken out and the ratio will rise to 63.9% if the value of the signed contracts is taken into account. But even that 63.9% ratio is lower than the 66% achieved over the same period last year.
The government has an annual budget expenditure target of 2.9 trillion baht, of which 577 billion is for investment, for fiscal 2018. At the end of May, 64.4% of the 2.9-trillion-baht budget was taken out during the first eight months, 71.8% of which was the regular budget. The government aims for 96% of the annual budget and 87% of the investment budget to be drawn down this fiscal year.
Public investment has been a mainstay for economic growth in recent years amid tepid domestic consumption and private investment. The private sector recently raised concerns that the stricter Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act would delay public investment, as many provincial governors could baulk at signing contracts.