House debate on Thailand's 2014 budget bill kicks off

BANGKOK, May 29 (TNA) - A House of Representatives session on the deliberation of Thailand's fiscal 2014 budget bill, set from May 29-31, kicked off on Wednesday morning, with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra asking MPs to keep their debate relevant. Yingluck told reporters, before attending the House session, that the parliamentary debate on the draft budget bill for the 2014 fiscal year is a mechanism to check the work of her government and she, therefore, wants MPs of both the government and the opposition sides to keep their debate relevant to the budget bill. Yingluck insisted that her administration's rice pledging scheme, targeted for attacks by the opposition side, has raised local farmers’ income, which will, hopefully, stimulate the overall national economy eventually. According to the prime minister, Thailand's economic fundamentals remain strong and the national economy is, thus, likely to continue expanding although the country's economic growth rates in the short term will, probably, fall short of people's expectations due to uncontrollable global factors. (TNA)