Revenue target for Thai government exceeds by 150 billion baht

Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) Director-General Pornchai Thiraveja has announced that the Thai government is rolling in cash. The director-general declared that the government’s revenue surpassed expectations, surpassing its target by 150 billion baht in the opening ten months of fiscal 2023. This continues a positive trend reported in May when revenue targets were surpassed by 112 billion baht.

As per Pornchai’s report, the government successfully amassed 2.14 trillion baht worth of net revenue from October 2022 to July 2023. This marks a 7.6% rise from the growth recorded in the corresponding period the prior year, which stood at 5.2%.

The Revenue Department, which is Thailand’s primary tax collection entity, accrued 1.73 trillion baht, surpassing its target by an impressive 10.6%.

However, not all departments met their goals. The Excise Department’s collection of 386 billion baht fell 18.4% below the anticipated amount.

On a brighter note, the Customs Department collected 106 billion baht in revenue, exceeding its target by 21%. Nevertheless, some state enterprises fell short of their targets, with their remitted income of 136 billion baht, missing the mark by 0.9%.

Pornchai clarified that the government’s revenue collection for this period would surpass its target by a smaller margin of 80.9 billion baht if retrospective payments of customs duties, in line with criminal proceedings, were excluded.

Optimism runs high at the Finance Ministry, which predicts a revenue collection exceeding the target of 2.49 trillion baht for fiscal 2023.

The government had earlier set an expenditure target of 3.18 trillion baht and a revenue target of 2.49 trillion baht for the fiscal year. This necessitated borrowing to bridge the 695-billion-baht deficit.

The Prayut Chan-o-cha administration’s Cabinet has approved a budget expenditure of 3.35 trillion baht for fiscal 2024. The revenue target stands at 2.75 trillion baht, necessitating borrowing to cover the 593-billion-baht deficit.

However, it’s worth noting that the 2024 Budget Expenditure Act will be delayed by up to six months under the caretaker government, pushing the start date to around April 2024. This prediction comes from the National Economic and Social Development Council.

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