First reading of Thai government's FY 2019 budget set on June 7

BANGKOK, May 30 (TNA) - Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has set June 7, 2018 for its deliberation of the government's budget in the 2019 fiscal year in its first reading. Somchai Sawangkarn, Secretary-General of the special committee on NLA affairs, told journalists of the update on May 29, saying that members of the NLA whip will hold a meeting on preparations for the June 7 session at the parliament building on May 31. Somchai stated that the preparations include the setting up of a 50-member panel to prepare for the June 7 session, comprising of 10 representatives from the government side and the rest from the NLA side. Besides, the preparations will cover discussions and a conclusion on an overall budget to be spent on funding the session, how many minutes each NLA member should have for their debate and how many days the NLA deliberation of the first reading of the state budget should last. Somchai acknowledged it had been initially set that each NLA member would have an eight minute-debate for each round and the upcoming deliberation of the state budget for the 2019 fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2018, would take only one day, when there would also be a live broadcast for public information through nationwide networks of the government-run National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT). According to the senior law maker, the 3-trillion baht state budget of the 2019 fiscal year mainly includes a regular budget proportion of 2.26 trillion baht, a 3.4 per cent year-on-year increase, an investment budget proportion of 660 billion baht, a 0.1 per cent year-on-year increase, and the rest has been earmarked for other government plans, while the government's total revenue for the 2019 fiscal year has been set at 2.55 trillion baht. The senior law maker revealed that the Ministry of Education should be given the most part of the Thai government's deficit state budget for the 2019 fiscal year, or about 480 billion baht, followed by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance at about 373 billion baht and 242 billion baht respectively. (TNA)