State investment budget disbursement remains stuck in the slow lane, with 47% taken out for the nine months through June.
However, the rate would reach 72% of the annual investment budget if the value of signed contracts are taken into account, said Suttirat Rattanachot, head of the Comptroller-General's Department.
State agencies doled out 2.11 trillion baht, representing 72.9% of the annual budget expenditure, for the October-to-June period, 1.42 percentage points below target, she said.
The government has an annual budget expenditure target of 2.9 trillion baht, of which 577 billion is for investment, for fiscal 2018. The government aims for 96% of the annual budget and 87% of the investment budget to be drawn down this fiscal year.
Of the total 2.11 trillion baht, 1.84 trillion was from the regular budget and the remaining 270 billion was from the investment budget.
The lower-than-targeted budget disbursement could be attributed to both internal and external factors and these problems are being addressed to push the disbursed rate as close to the target as possible, said Ms Suttirat.
For the carry-over budget, she said 170 billion baht, or 52.6% of the total budget, was drawn down.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak plans to call a meeting this week with related state agencies to prod them to speed up disbursement of the fiscal 2018 budget, as the budget period is coming to a close in the next two months, saying that budget disbursement has to be accelerated in the latter half of the calendar year to boost economic growth past 4%.
However, he has admitted the stricter Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act has had a knock-on effect on budget disbursement, particularly for state agencies in the second and third quarter this year.
The new act, which came into effect on Aug 23, is centred on preventing corruption and anti-competitive behaviour, with an increased level of transparency and monitoring. The act completely replaces the long-standing procurement regulations of the Office of the Prime Minister Act of 1978.