Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra wants to accelerate the disbursement of investment budgets, particularly for three ministries with high investment budgets, to lift the economy this year.
Patricia Mongkhonvanit, director-general of the Comptroller-General's Department, said at the policy level, the premier called on ministries with large investment budgets to expedite disbursements this year, especially the Interior, Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Transport ministries.
In the first four months of fiscal 2025 (October 2024 to January 2025), 29% of the total investment budget had been disbursed, Mrs Patricia said.
Mrs Patricia said disbursement of government investment budgets tends to accelerate towards the latter part of the fiscal year, but the department will monitor disbursements on a monthly basis.
Regarding the disbursement target of 80% set by the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), she said it is a challenging goal.
She said the permanent secretary for transport explained that the Transport Ministry's investment projects are massive, meaning the process takes longer. Once everything is in order, disbursements will speed up, according to the Transport Ministry.
When it comes to agencies with investment budgets but no debt obligations, which often means no procurement contracts, most are small agencies that have less impact on disbursement, said Mrs Patricia.
The department remains concerned, particularly about the investment budgets for a group of provinces, and the Interior Ministry has already been made aware of this matter, she said.
In fiscal 2025, there is a rollover budget reserved for disbursement this year amounting to 120 billion baht. As of now, about half of this amount has been disbursed. If the remaining funds cannot be fully disbursed within this fiscal year, they will be cancelled, said Mrs Patricia.
For fiscal 2024, the government aimed for 75% disbursement of the investment budget, but recorded 65% disbursement due to delays in the announcement of the annual Expenditure Budget Act.
Despite this, efforts were made to achieve a 65% disbursement, which was considered acceptable, she said.
"This year, with a full year of normal operations, we are setting an even more ambitious target. We want everyone to participate, and we'll see how much can be achieved. We'll give our best effort because now only the 'G' [government] remains to help drive the economy," she said.
The FPO said earlier that to achieve 3.5% economic growth this year, one of the key factors is to accelerate disbursements to no less than 80%.
The fiscal 2025 budget is 3.75 trillion baht, of which 932 billion is allocated for investment, making up 24.8% of the total budget, which is a 15.4% increase from the previous fiscal year.
Under this budget, the government has set goals for spending based on seven strategic areas. The largest share of the budget, 24.7%, is allocated for strategies related to creating opportunities and social equality, followed by 18.5% for the government's operational expenditure, and only 9.7% for strategies aimed at enhancing competitiveness.