Thai PM assures transparency of 2013 fiscal budget

BANGKOK, August 15 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has assured the transparency of her Pheu Thai Party-led government's 2013 budget plan with a reduced deficit. Speaking to journalists before a House session on budget debate, the 2nd and 3rd readings, kicked off Wednesday morning, Yingluck said that the 2013 fiscal budget draft was worked out with transparency and was also strictly referred to fiscal and financial principles agreed with the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) since the previous Democrat Party-led administration. Yingluck acknowledged that her government's allocation of the 2013 state budget would prioritize national development, especially investment projects on basic infrastructure and further development of people's quality of life. According to the Thai premier, the 2013 budget, following the parliamentary final passage, would also create more jobs, increase people's income, reduce disparity between the rich and the poor in the country and even pave the way for the formation of a single community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015. For state revenues in the 2013 fiscal year, Premier Yingluck revealed that it would mainly come from Thai exports, tourism and the government's economic stimulus measures earlier reported to the Parliament. The House of Representatives session on the 2013 fiscal budget debate has been initially scheduled for three days, from August 15-17. (TNA)