The cabinet on Tuesday approved a diesel tax cut until the end of April and a 3.6-trillion-baht budget plan for the fiscal year 2025, said Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.
The tax will be cut by 1 baht per litre to help reduce living costs, he told reporters, adding that the move would cost the government 6 billion baht in lost revenue.
He also said the government’s 500-billion-baht digital handout plan would still be rolled out by May as planned. It would not be reduced, nor would it be financed from the fiscal budget, as reported by some local media, Mr Julapun added.
The government is proposing to borrow the 500 billion baht required to fund the distribution of 10,000 baht in digital money to about 50,000 Thai nationals over age 16.
The Council of State, the government’s legal advisory body, recently offered an opinion that the borrowing plan did not violate fiscal discipline laws.
While work has begun on the 2025 fiscal budget to take effect on Oct 1 this year, the 2024 fiscal budget is still making its way through parliamentary channels.
The 2024 budget was not passed last year because of the lengthy delay in forming a government after the elections in May.
The 3.48-trillion-baht 2024 budget passed first reading in the House on Jan 5 and is now being studied by a committee. It is expected to take effect in early May.
The budget calls for a deficit of 693 billion baht, 100 billion baht, or 14% higher than the 593 billion projected in an earlier draft prepared under the previous government.