Government revenue for the first 10 months of fiscal 2023 exceeded its target by 150 billion baht, says Fiscal Policy Office director-general Pornchai Thiraveja.
Mr Pornchai said the government collected net revenue of 2.14 trillion baht for the first 10 months of fiscal 2023 (October 2022 to July 2023), an increase of 7.6%, up from 5.2% growth in the same period last year.
The Revenue Department, the country's largest tax collection department, collected 1.73 trillion baht, exceeding the target by 10.6%.
The Excise Department collected 386 billion baht, which fell 18.4% below the target.
The Customs Department collected 106 billion baht, besting the target by 21%.
Some state firms remitted income of 136 billion baht, shy of the target by 0.9%.
However, government revenue collection for the period would exceed the target by only 80.9 billion baht if additional revenue, namely retrospective payments of customs duties in accordance with criminal proceedings, were excluded.
The Finance Ministry expects to collect revenue exceeding the target of 2.49 trillion baht for fiscal 2023.
The government set a target for expenditure of 3.18 trillion baht and revenue of 2.49 trillion for the fiscal year, requiring borrowing to cover the 695-billion-baht deficit.
The cabinet of the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration approved budget expenditure of 3.35 trillion baht for fiscal 2024, with a revenue target of 2.75 trillion baht, requiring borrowing to cover the 593-billion-baht deficit.
However, under the caretaker government, the 2024 Budget Expenditure Act starting on Oct 1 will be delayed by up to six months, or until around April 2024, according to a prediction made by the National Economic and Social Development Council.