Budget Bureau director Chaloempol Pensut on Tuesday confirmed for the first time that the government can spend the budget from fiscal year 2025 on its flagship 10,000-baht digital wallet handout scheme.
Mr Chaloempol was reacting to the opposition Move Forward Party's (MFP) concerns about fiscal year 2025 figures on how the scheme would boost economic growth.
The MFP earlier told the government that it had failed to provide clarity on the source of funds for the scheme from fiscal year 2025.
Mr Chaloempol said the government can have the 2025 budget expenditure, provided that the portion comes from cancelled projects.
He insisted on the government following the fiscal management measures announced earlier, saying they had a valid reason attached to the budget requirement as written in the recent Budgetary Transmission Act.
With the scaling down of the budget to be used in the scheme, the government said the 450 billion baht would come from the budgets for fiscal years 2024 and 2025:
160 billion baht from FY 2024 -- with 122 billion baht coming from the Additional Budget Act and 40 billion baht more being trimmed from other spending.
285 billion baht from FY 2025 -- with 152.7 billion baht from the annual budget and 132.3 billion from spending cuts.
Mr Chaloempol said the adaptation for next year's fiscal budget, including a supplementary bill, will depend on the government's actual situation.
A supplementary bill seeking to increase the budget for the current fiscal year by 122 billion baht will have the House's second and third readings today after its first reading on July 17.
Regarding the bill, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that the procedure for the supplementary bill is transparent and verifiable, as the related sectors have followed all of the relevant laws as required.
Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said the handout would be issued at the end of this year as planned.
He said he was confident in the thorough legal procedures and the progress made on the bill amendment.
