Thai government to transfer more money to village funds

BANGKOK, July 25 (TNA) - The Thai government plans to transfer additional money to 12,000 more village funds by the end of this year and to upgrade village fund branches to one-stop service centers for locals. Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Varathep Rattanakorn, who is also Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister concurrently, announced the official plan at a press conference in Bangkok on Thursday, on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the National Village and Urban Community Fund Office. Varathep acknowledged that several village funds have increased local villagers' income, distributed growth and supported co-existence and participation in communities for the sake of improved quality of life of the locals. According to the minister, there have been 79,255 village and urban community funds throughout Thailand so far, with a total of over 12.8 million fund members, and the funds have directly benefited localities and empowered communities. The minister noted that additional state budget has been transferred to 44,730 village funds and about 12,000 other funds will receive additional financial support by November 2013, while the rest 15 per cent of the funds will gradually obtain additional money next year. Besides, the Thai government is setting up learning centers in local villages and is about to set up community-based financial institutes together with the Government Savings Bank (GSB), the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the Krung Thai Bank. The minister said that the Thai government also plans to exempt village funds from taxation like cooperatives and the administration will, next year, offer welfare to village fund members and upgrade village fund offices to one-stop service centers where locals can pay water, electricity and phone fees, and that the centers will also open their shops. (TNA)