Scrutiny of 2007 budget completed
The National Legislative Assembly panel scrutinising the 2007 budget has finished considering the bill and is preparing to submit it for the second and third readings next Wednesday.
Panel spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart said yesterday that the panel had recommended trimming Bt5.574 billion from the budget allocated to government agencies. However, the government on Wednesday asked that about Bt3.5 billion of this amount be retained, while the balance of about Bt2.1 billion would be returned to the central budget. The government set the national budget for 2007 at Bt1.57 trillion. Akapol said the panel had noted that no budget had been set for activities to develop democracy, such as holding referendums. However, it expected the government would spend Bt2 billion on this from the central budget. There was no provision for the political party development fund either, Akapol said. He said the fund, set up under the 1997 constitution, would be needed once the Council for National Security (CNS) lifted its ban on activities by political parties. Also, the government should have allocated a single budget specifically for encouraging people's participation in drafting the new constitution instead of splitting it up as parts of the budgets of various government agencies, Akapol said.
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