The Finance Ministry admitted that the government’s cash flow is slowing, but expects the problem to ease over the next two months on receipt of tax revenues. Ministry officials allayed concerns over the large amount of money that is expected to be spent on the snap election. Finance Ministry’s spokesman Somchai Sujjapongse said that it was not unusual for expenditure to exceed revenue during the early months of a fiscal year.
The current daily shortfall of cash is about THB800 million, which is higher than the THB600 million daily shortfall it the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Sujjapongse refuted charges that the present shortfall has been caused by the populist policies implemented by the government over the past five years. Sujjapongse attributed the shortfall to subsidies paid to local governments and government spending carried over from last year. Government income in the first five months of the fiscal year, from October 2005 to February 2006, surpassed its target, indicating that the government’s budget of THB1.36 trillion for the current fiscal year is likely to be met.