The House debate following the first reading of the 2024 Budget Bill concluded on Friday with most government MPs voting in support of the bill, despite concerns sounded by the opposition, most notably the Move Forward Party, about the 3.48-trillion-baht budget.
While Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has been trying to lead both opposition MPs and the public to believe the latest expenditure proposal -- which features a 693-billion-baht deficit -- was specifically prepared in response to the nation's economic situation, the bill shows the lack of a sincere intent to address the various inequalities which plague the country, from economy to education, public health, as well as regional development.
MFP list-MP Pukkamon Nunarnan deserves praise for highlighting the problem during the debate. Ms Pukkamon, who is also the party's spokeswoman, slammed the government for insisting on using the same old budget allocation method that has been proven to cause inequalities to worsen.
She said areas which are more economically developed tend to receive a larger share of the budget.
She also noted the annual budget allocation consistently failed to take into account the unique needs of each province and its residents.
Furthermore, the MFP spokeswoman noted the 23-billion-baht provincial cluster development budget features multiple redundant grants to various ministries, state agencies and local administrations.
Most importantly, she said, the budget lacks a clear focus, as reflected by the decision to pour most of the annual allocation to road construction at the expense of more productive projects.
The allocations for education follow a similar pattern.
Ideally, more funds should be channelled to areas where average test scores are lower, but in reality urban centres with higher test scores get the lion's share of the budget, reflecting the government's indifference to the stark disparities between urban and rural areas.
The Ordinary National Education Test (O-Net) scores reflect the inequality -- students in Bangkok tend to achieve much higher scores than their counterparts in, say, rural Narathiwat.
Healthcare allocations are no different -- remote areas often lack the funds to maintain their facilities and personnel, despite the fact that doctors in rural health facilities often have to treat more people than their urban counterparts.
For example, a doctor in Bangkok takes care of about 500 patients, while a doctor in Nong Bua Lamphu in the Northeast, which gets much less than the capital, is responsible for about 4,700 patients.
Mr Srettha promised to urgently address the nation's chronic inequalities, but that simply won't happen without a fundamental shift in the way the government approaches budget allocation.
The budget determines the direction of development. As such, the government must remember how it distributes its resources reflect its priorities.
As the deliberations on the 2024 Budget Bill faced significant delays, which leaves various government agencies with 5-6 months to fully make us of the funds they requested, hopes for substantial change are dwindling.
If the prime minister truly intends to bring about transformative change during his term, as he has expressed in front of the public and parliament, the budget for the next fiscal year must reflect its goals.
With a year already lost, the urgency to rectify longstanding issues is increasing by the day.