Four-month state revenue exceeds target

Four-month state revenue exceeds target

“We predict revenue collection will improve in line with the economy,” says Ms Kulaya. (Bangkok Post file photo)
“We predict revenue collection will improve in line with the economy,” says Ms Kulaya. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Government revenue exceeded the target by 4% during the October-January period but tax revenue fell short of the goal.

In the first four months of fiscal 2018, net revenue was 738 billion baht, 28.3 billion higher than the target, said Finance Ministry spokeswoman Kulaya Tantitemit.

The increase was driven by contributions by state enterprises and other agencies, as well as excise tax, which were 12.9 billion, 12.7 billion and 1.3 billion baht, respectively.

The key tax categories of which collections exceeded the targets were automobiles and corporate income.

“We predict revenue collection will improve in line with the economy,” Ms Kulaya said.

However, revenue collected by the Revenue Department was 508 billion baht during the period, 1.3% below the target, she said.

“The figure is 2% higher than that in the same period last fiscal year. Value-added tax collection was 2.2% short of the target and personal income tax collection was 1.2% below but corporate income tax was 1.2% higher than the target,” she added.

For customs tax, 37.6 billion baht was collected during the period, 1.8% below the target since imports of goods with tax privileges were higher.

Excise tax was 170 billion baht, 0.7% higher than the target, driven by automobiles and tobacco.

A key contributor to state coffers during the period was state enterprises, which chipped in 51 billion baht, 34.5% higher than expected.

The top five performers in terms of increases from targets were the Government Lottery Office, Electricity Generating Authority, Vayupak Funds, Expressway Authority of Thailand and Port Authority of Thailand.

Collections by non-tax collecting agencies also exceeded the targets by 17.9% to 84 billion baht.

The Treasury Department collected 3.6 billion baht, 11.3% above the target.

During the same period, the government budget disbursement was at 1.2 trillion baht. To finance the deficit, the government has borrowed 191.4 billion baht. Therefore, the treasury reserve at the end of January 2018 was at 188.7 billion baht.

“Fiscal balance in the first four months of fiscal 2018 remained strong. The government will ensure that budget disbursement accelerates, which will support the economy to grow at the targeted rate,” Ms Kulaya said.


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