Budget in pros hands
Bureaucrats have been given a free hand to write the fiscal-2007 budget, informed sources said.
The Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) had no economic policy advisers and would allow the Finance Ministry and Budget Bureau to maintain policy. The ministry and bureau would opt for existing spending plans and run a deficit of Bt70 billion - or 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), they claimed. "We will run deficits as necessary and it could be 1.5 per cent of GDP, or lower,'' said the source, who asked not to be named. He said the ministry was conservative about spending but the bureau might want to run a bigger deficit to meet ministerial expenditure requests. A bureau source estimated fiscal 2007 spending at Bt1.5 trillion - Bt100 billion more than the anticipated revenue.
Wichit Chaitrong The Nation
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