The Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) has expressed concerns about a 35% reduction in its fiscal 2022 budget allocated by the government, saying it would hinder several core projects to promote digital adoption and transformation in the country.
Depa president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said 694 million baht was set aside for the agency's operating budget for fiscal 2022, the lowest since it was established four years ago.
The 35% decline from the fiscal 2021 budget, he said, would affect several important projects, such as plans to work with other agencies to support digital adoption and efforts to boost digital transformation. There is strong demand for digital adoption among companies that want to overcome financial and organisational burdens caused by the pandemic.
"Depa understands the government's budget constraints regarding crucial expenditures, but this decreased budget will affect our planned projects promoting digital adoption," said Mr Nuttapon said.
Depa's Angel Fund, which supports local startups through incubation programmes, will see state funding drop to 48 million baht in fiscal 2022, down from 80 million in the previous fiscal budget.
The allocation for programmes that support digital transformation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is reduced to 39 million baht from 70 million, while community transformation is slashed to 38 million from 270 million.
The Angel Fund was used to incubate 90 startups in fiscal 2021. A Depa source who requested anonymity said the agency is likely to support only 30 startups in fiscal 2022.
The Angel Fund supports startups that are 1-3 years old, offering 1 million baht in funding, while startups operating for 3-5 years are eligible to receive 5 million.
The fiscal 2022 budget made no allocation for digital transformation in the agriculture sector.
Some 102 million baht has been allocated for Depa's Thailand Digital Valley development scheme, 16 million for supporting big data at state agencies, 13 million for digital literacy support for the disabled, 13 million for digital literacy support for the elderly, and 10 million for expenses at the Thai pavilion at the World Expo in Dubai.
Depa also expects the suspension of its labelling scheme called "dSure" to guarantee the functionality, safety and security of digital products sold in Thailand as no budget has been allocated for it in fiscal 2022. The scheme was initiated in 2020 and Depa planned to work with the National Science Technology Development Agency and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute on this scheme.
