Thai PM promises to make best use of the 2016 budget

BANGKOK, May 21 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has promised to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that his interim government will spend the 2.72-trillion-baht state budget for the 2016 fiscal year most efficiently and transparently. Presenting the 2016 Budget Bill to NLA on Thursday, Prime Minister General Prayut said that it was designed to fund eight strategies of his interim administration, including sustainable development, national security, sustainable and fair economic development, educational promotion, public health, morality and quality of life, natural resources and environment management, science and technological development, research and innovation, international affairs and good governance, aimed at providing people's adequate access to resources. Citing some items of key spending in the next fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2015, the prime minister referred to 6 billion baht for Thailand's preparations for the ASEAN Community (AC), 30.55 billion baht for solutions to violence in the Thai far South and 1.16 billion baht for solutions to migrant labour, illegal immigration and human trafficking. The prime minister stressed that the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) will check spending on all state projects to ensure transparency, noting that state spending on investment projects will be highest under the 2016 fiscal budget, which was set to have a 390-billion baht-deficit. NLA later unanimously passed the 2016 Budget Bill. (TNA)