Bangkok: "Sirikanya" criticizes the government's 70-year budget, saying it offers no solution to economic problems; the simmering ailment has burst, and the budget doesn't reflect actual spending. Sirikanya pointed out that the government's 70-baht budget still lacks a solution to the escalating economic problems, and does not reflect actual spending. While investment budgets have been cut, road construction still leads the way. The budget is deceiving for Parliament by making it appear low, lacking new projects, simply by adding "plus" to the end of the budget.
According to Thai News Agency, Ms. Sirikanya Tansakul, a party-list MP from the People's Party, debated the draft Budget Act for fiscal year 2027, totaling 3.788 trillion baht. She argued that the budget increase was only 7.4 billion baht, while revenue, at 3 trillion baht, increased by approximately 79 billion baht - a significant increase compared to the budget increase. Despite the modest budget increase, the government continues to borrow heavily to compensate for the high budget deficit. While the government may cite an underlying energy crisis, it has already signed a blank check for borrowing 400 billion baht. Therefore, using a crisis to justify such a high deficit may be incorrect, as it could lead to a budget deficit exceeding 3% of GDP becoming the new normal. This reflects a chronic problem where government expenditures lag behind, as reflected in this year's budget allocation where investment expenditures have been cut by 70 billion baht, while recurring expenditures have increased by hundreds of billions of baht. The inability to adjust recurring expenditures means that budgetary maneuvers to conceal this deficit are no longer viable.
"Previous governments would deceive parliament into believing that recurring expenses were low by inflating the figures and manipulating the cash flow. But over time, it became impossible to conceal this truth, so it was necessary to include figures that were closer to the reality," Ms. Sirikanya said.
Ms. Sirikanya further stated that although the 2027 budget increase is not significant, there are questions about why almost half of the various agencies received a widespread budget reduction. Looking at the departmental level, 70% of budget-receiving units received a reduction from 2026, both in recurring and capital expenditures. Units with large capital budgets received even greater cuts. Only a few units actually received significant increases. The largest increase was in the central budget, particularly items related to personnel expenses, such as civil servant pensions and contributions to the Government Pension Fund. It was found that the Ministry of Finance alone received an increase of 40 billion baht. This increase was not for developing new projects, but rather for interest expenses; there was no actual increase in expenditure, only the figures were updated to reflect reality.
'It reflects the fact that today, Thailand's chronic budget deficit is no longer something that can be covered up. The festering wound that has been brewing for years has burst in the 2027 fiscal year. I understand that this government hasn't been in power for long, but their statements haven't shown any responsibility or acknowledged the need for fiscal reform. They still cling to the rhetoric that they maintain fiscal discipline and are proud of the improved credit rating, but the problems hidden beneath the surface haven't been addressed or seriously tackled. If this continues, it's not just the pus that will ooze out, but the bleeding will be uncontrollable. The underlying problem is that we don't collect enough revenue to cover our expenses, we don't borrow as much as we can afford, and we don't manage recurring expenditures that are difficult to reduce. In the future, this situation will become a vicious cycle. The national budget deficit will remain at an uncontrollable level, but national development through innovative initiatives will be impossible because there will be no budget left. The hope of reducing public debt and the deficit will become increasingly impossible,' Ms. Sirikanya said.
Ms. Sirikanya stated that, regarding the details of the 2027 budget, which was prepared to address the current economic crisis, capital expenditures have been reduced by 73,736 million baht. However, items that were not expected to be counted as capital expenditures are now being included. For example, in the central budget's emergency reserve fund, which was approved at 100,000 million baht this year, 60,000 million baht is counted as capital expenditure. What remains unclear is the allocation of 12,000 million baht for economic recovery and stimulus spending this year, with 80% being capital expenditure. Normally, she sees this as handouts, so it cannot be counted as capital expenditure. However, there is good news that 100% of the budget allocated to research and development is counted as capital expenditure. But the bad news is that the research budget for this year has been reduced by 6,000 million baht, from 19,000 million baht to only 13,000 million baht.
Furthermore, in fiscal year 2026, there was much discussion about the excessive construction budget. This year, we are thankful for the drastic cuts to building construction budgets, which are considered very harsh. However, the largest expenditure category for capital expenditure remains road construction.
Ms. Sirikanya further stated that although recurring expenses have increased significantly this year, they are still insufficient to cover actual costs, including civil servant pensions, medical expenses, interest payments, and contributions to the Government Pension Fund. This leaves a deficit of over 85 billion baht.
"When we have to budget closely to actual expenditures, there are significant increases in recurring expenses, almost 100 billion baht. The budget is already constrained and cannot be expanded to accommodate future expenses. We can only hope that by 2027, the government will have sufficient funds to cover the budget shortfall. Because it must be acknowledged that since 2022, we have been unable to manage the cash flow and have had to dip into the treasury, like a grandfather's treasure chest, which needs to be repaid each year," Ms. Sirikanya said.
Ms. Sirikanya stated that the question is, how much is the country's annual budget exactly? The funds requested from Parliament are often insufficient. When spending falls short, they have to request funds from the treasury, creating a vicious cycle where subsequent years require budget allocations to replenish the treasury, eroding future budget reserves. This means that no matter how much the budget deficit is, it's still not enough. Because of these budget constraints, we rarely see new projects in the 2027 budget documents. We might see changes in project names, but they remain the same projects. And ironically, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance read out numerous project names with "Plus" appended to them, but upon reviewing the budget documents, none of these projects are actually included.
Furthermore, the strategy is very similar to the previous one, with very few changes. Looking at the campaign promises, such as volunteer nurses, one drug rehabilitation center per district (which weren't built but new rehabilitation programs are being developed), and the advertised 100,000 volunteer soldiers (but only 25,000 in the budget), even though these were campaign promises, they haven't been implemented. So where did the increased budget come from? Another thing I clearly see is that AI, or artificial intelligence, has become the new ATM code for 2027. Anything related to AI receives special increased funding; this year it doubled to approximately 2 billion baht for 176 projects. Yet, I can't find any specific AI strategy in this year's projects.
'Regarding expenditures, we encounter numerous problems. The soaring budget reflects the chronic wounds of the previous government, which the current administration has yet to address. Ultimately, the budget available for national development will dwindle. To resolve this chronic problem, we need leaders-the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, and the Minister of Finance-who are genuinely committed to solving the issues and speaking frankly about them, in order to lead the country out of this ongoing crisis. However, in the 2027 fiscal year, we don't see how the country will be guided out of that situation,' Ms. Sirikanya concluded.