Ministries told to expedite investment outlay

The Comptroller-General’s Department has set an ambitious disbursement target for investment budgets in fiscal 2025, aiming for 75-80% of the total investment budget.
For the current fiscal year, which ends this month, disbursements are expected to reach up to 70%, said Patricia Mongkhonvanit, director-general of the department.
According to Mrs Patricia, year-to-date the government has disbursed 54% of the total investment budget for fiscal 2024, injecting 386 billion baht into the economy. The total value of investment projects that have been contracted or have purchase orders (POs) in place is 540 billion baht, representing 75% of the total government investment budget for fiscal 2024, which is 721 billion baht.
She said there is still hope that the investment budget disbursement figures in the final fiscal quarter, which are currently coming in, will push the disbursement rate to 70% by the end of the fiscal year in September. Roughly 10-15% of the investment budget will remain unspent, said Mrs Patricia.
Another 10-15% of the investment budget that has already been contracted but cannot be disbursed within fiscal 2024, deemed the carryover budget, will be rolled over and disbursed in the next fiscal year, she said.
According to Mrs Patricia, the department sent letters to all ministry permanent secretaries urging them to expedite the issuance of POs and speed up the disbursement of the 2024 budget.
Ministries were also instructed to prepare for the disbursement of the fiscal 2025 budget, which begins on Oct 1, by starting procurement processes where possible, such as preparing terms of reference for bidding.
According to budget laws, if a government agency is unable to sign contracts or make procurement agreements with the private sector within the fiscal year, that portion of the investment budget will be forfeited and cannot be carried over to the following year, unlike in the past.
The delay in disbursing the investment budget for fiscal 2024 is largely attributed to the late approval of the 2024 annual budget bill, given the prolonged process to form a new government. This caused the budget bill’s progression through parliament to be delayed.
As for the fiscal 2025 budget bill, which is on track to be enacted by the start of the fiscal year on Oct 1, the total expenditure is set at 3.752 trillion baht, an increase of 7.8% from the previous year.
Of this amount, 908 billion baht is allocated for government investment, a 27.9% increase from the previous fiscal year, representing 24.2% of total expenditure. In addition, 150 billion baht is allocated for principal debt repayment, which is 26.9% higher than the previous year, representing 4% of total expenditure.