Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda has agreed to study how to "unlock" funds of local administrative organisations (LAOs) and divert them to stimulate the economy, said government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat.
The issue was raised during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday which addressed disbursement of investment budgets for the 2019 fiscal year that ends on Sept 30. The government is pushing hard to accelerate public investment to spur growth.
She said the interior minister has promised to look into regulations governing disbursement of the LAOs' funds to see if they can be transferred to the government's economic stimulus programmes.
"The minister told the cabinet there are regulations involved but he would come up with a proposal as soon as possible," she said.
Asked about the size of the LAOs' funds, she said the total is estimated at about 600 billion baht.
Ms Narumon said the cabinet has also asked state agencies to speed up disbursement of investment funds this month or they would have to prepare a tied-over budget.
The Budget Bureau reported that, as of June 28 disbursement of the 2019 budget amounted to 1.84 trillion baht, or 73.1% of the total 3 trillion baht -- 3.9% below target.
The cabinet last week endorsed a fiscal 2020 budget of 3.2 trillion baht, up 6.7% or 200 billion baht from the 2019 fiscal year.