Most unhappy with budget but expect bill to pass: poll

Most unhappy with budget but expect bill to pass: poll

Parliament officials inspect boxes containing 750 copies of the 2020 fiscal budget bill and other documents to be distributed to MPs and senators on Oct 8. (Bangkok Post photo)
Parliament officials inspect boxes containing 750 copies of the 2020 fiscal budget bill and other documents to be distributed to MPs and senators on Oct 8. (Bangkok Post photo)

A majority of people believe the 3.2-trillion-baht budget proposed by the government is excessive but expect it to sail through parliament, according to the result of an opinion survey by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll.

The poll was carried out on Oct 9-12 on 1,034 people to compile their opinions on the budget bill set to be debated in the House of Representatives on Oct 17.

Asked whether the 3.2 trillion baht budget for fiscal 2020 -- about 200 billion baht higher than the previous year -- is appropriate, 58.69% said "no", because the amount is too high, prone to corruption and would cause the country to fall further into debt, thus putting a burden on the people, while 41.31% said it is appropriate because a large amount of money is needed to develop the country and stimulate the economy.

A large majority -- 70.38% -- believed the bill would get parliamentary approval. Only 29.62% said it would fail to get approval, reasoning that the proposed expenditures do not justify the overly high budget and the government commands only a slim majority.

Asked how interested they are in the budget debate, 35.02% said it is fairly interesting to them and 21.75% said it is very interesting. On the other side, 26.75% said they are not particularly interested because they pay more attention to quality of life issues, while 16.54% said they are not interested in it at all as they are fed up with politics and politicians.

Asked how would they follow the budget debate, 43.63% said they would use social media; 34.99% would follow the news from television, radio and newspaper reports; and 21.38% said they would watch the live telecast of the debate.

Asked how the budget should be spent, the respondents' replies varied as follows:

- 53.15% want it to be used to stimulate the economy and for the country's development;

- 32.38% said it should be used to improve the people's quality of life;

- 28.37% said attention should be paid to poverty, farmers, floods and drought;

- 25.68% said more attention should be given to educational and technological development;

- 21.22% want it to be used for providing medical welfare and purchases of medical equipment.

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