The cabinet yesterday approved an additional 560 billion baht in new borrowing for fiscal 2024, bringing total new borrowing for the fiscal year to more than 754 billion.
According to government spokesman Chai Wacharonke, the new borrowing is part of the government's revised public debt management plan for fiscal 2024, which encompasses three areas: new borrowing, adjustments to the existing public debt management plan, and modifications to the debt repayment plan.
For the new borrowing plan, borrowing is raised to 754.71 billion baht, up from the initially proposed amount of 194.43 billion.
The public debt management plan was adjusted to 2.00 trillion baht, up from 1.62 trillion, while the debt repayment plan was raised from 390.54 billion baht to 399.62 billion, representing a gain of 9.08 billion.
The new borrowing is mainly to offset the budget deficit for fiscal 2024 and manage the liquidity of the treasury reserve.
According to Mr Chai, the adjustments to the public debt management plan align with relevant laws and regulations, particularly the State Fiscal and Financial Discipline Act of 2018, which sets a ceiling for public debt at 70% of the country's GDP.
With this adjustment, the public debt-to-GDP ratio is 61.3%.
Following these adjustments, he said the ratio of government debt to annual state revenue, capped at 35%, would tally 33.1%, while the proportion of foreign currency-denominated public debt to total public debt, limited to 10%, would register at 1.5%.
The ratio of foreign currency-denominated public debt to export earnings from goods and services, capped at 5%, is at 0.4%.
Mr Chai said the approved adjustments to the plan are within the framework for fiscal and financial discipline.
The cabinet also approved the inclusion of an additional 56 development projects into the revised public debt management plan, he said.
On Jan 5, the House of Representatives approved the first reading of the draft budget for fiscal 2024 that calls for higher spending of 3.48 trillion baht and a budget deficit of 693 billion baht.
The fiscal 2024 budget was delayed from a start date of Oct 1, 2023 because of the long transition to the coalition government following the election.
Analysts estimate the fiscal 2024 budget will be approved and ready for disbursement by early May.