Thai premier clears multi-billion spending plan as vote nears

THAILAND’S cabinet approved a raft of proposals in what’s likely to be its last meeting before Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-cha dissolves parliament to pave way for a general election. 

A marathon meeting chaired by Prayut on Tuesday endorsed the allocation of money for various ministries under the 3.35 trillion baht (S$130.4 billion) budget for fiscal year 2024 starting Oct 1, a 24 billion baht expressway project, and investments worth 62 billion baht by state-owned National Telecom in mobile networks and licensing. 

The cabinet also approved salary increase worth 4.8 billion baht a year for municipal officials, a 716 million baht income guarantee programme for corn farmers and low-interest loans worth 1 billion baht. The ministers also signed off on a proposal to extend income tax exemption or reduction on investment in depositary receipts tied to shares of companies listed outside Thailand.  

Prayut is bidding to extend his eight-year reign – first as a coup leader in 2014 and then as the head of an elected coalition since 2019. He’s the top candidate of a new conservative party after splitting with the military-backed ruling party that helped him stay in power since the last vote. 

The meeting considered “more than 60 issues, with the most important being ways to ease people’s struggles,” Prayut told reporters in Bangkok, without saying if it was the last cabinet huddle before parliament dissolution. 

Prayut may order the dissolution on March 20, Prime Minister’s Office Minister Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana told reporters before the cabinet meeting. The four-year term of the House of Representatives ends on March 23. BLOOMBERG