August 2013 : House Passed Bt. 2.5 trillion 2014 Budget Bill Banharn Silpa-acha to oversee 3 reform committees Amnesty Bill passed 1st House reading Constitution Amendment draft Bill passed 2nd Senate reading Taweekiat to replace Wasant in the constitutional court jury Cash deficit rose to Baht 400 billion in 10 months Public debt rising constantly A 2.5% interest rate retained Toll way fees increase Diesel contribution to Petroleum Fund reduced Tax incentives to boost tourism sector An institution to promote employees safety Measures to resolve rubber devaluing More Baht 270 billion for 2013/14 rice pledge More people sought for jobs Grade 1 students use tablets PCs inefficiently Thailand competency ranked 2014 Fiscal Budget Bill passed the House of Reps On 24th August, the House of Representatives passed the 2014 Fiscal Budget Bill with 290 to 136 votes, 19 abstained and 2 no votes. The Bill designated an annual budget of Baht 2.5 trillion to be spent in the 2014 fiscal year, from 1/10/13 to 30/9/14. Banharn to oversee 3 reform committees Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appointed 3 committees to reform on 3 issues; political, economic and social. President of the Chart Thai Pattana Party counseling committee, Banharn Silpa-acha, was appointed to oversee the three committees. They will start working on September 2013. On 25th August the Prime Minister asserted the government set 7 goals for this reform, they are: To uphold and strengthen democracy with the King as Head of the State. To provide equality, reduce inequality and dissimilarities in all society sectors accordingly to their rights. To practice good governance and transparency by create a mechanism to monitor public matters. To generate justice and equality in basic rights to all society sectors in compliance to the rule-of-law. To promote participatory democracy among all sectors. To comply with the majority while attend to the minority. To inspire environ of honest and trustworthy, and To hold to public benefit and integrity. Amnesty Bill passed 1st reading On 8th August, the House of Representatives voted on the first round to pass the Amnesty draft bill with 300 to 124, 14 abstentions and 2 no votes. An extraordinary committee of 35 members was appointed to scrutinize within 7 days. The Bill was submitted by Phue Thai Samutprakarn MP Worachai Hemma and associates. Constitution amendment passed 2nd reading On 21st August, the Parliament passed the 2nd reading of the Constitutional Amendment draft bill with 349 to 157 votes. The bill, revised by the majority votes of the committee, states that: Parents, spouse and offspring of members of parliament are allowed to run the senatorial election. The House of Senate shall have a total number of 200 and all from election. Taweekiat named a new CC judge On 29th August, the selection committee of a constitution court judge, chaired by the president of the Supreme Court Pairote Wayupab, voted to select a Thammasart law professor Taweekiat Meenakanit to become the Constitutional Court judge, replace Wasant Soypisudh who resigned in July. Taweekiat’s nomination will be effective upon the Senate’s approval. Cash deficit rose to Baht 400 billion The Fiscal Policy Office disclosed that at the fiscal year ended on 10th July 2013, cash deficit rose to Baht 407 billion. A Baht 272 billion was a “budgetary deficit” and Baht 134 billion “non-budgetary”. The cash deficit was a difference of state income, Baht 1.75 trillion, to expenditure, Baht 2.02 trillion. Though the revenue was Baht 183 billion or 11.7% higher than the same period of last year due to increases in VAT and vehicles excise tax, expenditure was Baht 116 billion or 6.1% higher, too. Public debt rises constantly The Finance Ministry reported as of 30th June 2013, public debt was Baht 5.22 trillion, equivalent to 44.27% of GDP. During these past 8 months since November 2012, public debt was continuously rose to a total of Baht 350 billion and a net of Baht 47.9 billion was higher than previous month. A 2.5% interest rate retained On 20th August, the Monetary Policy Committee voted 6 to 1 to retain the interest rate at 2.5% regardless to the economy slowdown in Q1. Toll way fees increase The new toll way fees were effective in August after a publication in a royal decree on 21st. Revision is made every five years according to the contract between the Expressway of Thailand and BECL that rates must be relevant to consumer’s index. Diesel contribution to Petroleum Fund reduced The Energy Policy and Planning Committee resolved on 29th August to reduce diesel contribution into the Petroleum Fund from Baht 0.70 to 0.20 per liter to retain retail price to a maximum of Baht 30/liter. Moreover, contribution from gasohol will be reduced at Baht 0.30/liter, too. Tax incentives to boost tourism On 27th August, the cabinet approved two draft bills with principles to provide tax incentives to two enterprisers as follow: A general jurisdiction will get tax deduction on a provisional of in-service training to develop their employees. An enterprise in tourism sector will get tax deduction on their re-investment, renewal or redevelopment in their asset. An institution to promote employee safety On 27th August, the cabinet committed the Labor Ministry’s proposal to establish a public agency to promote safety and good environs in working places. An establishment fund will be provided as well as subsidiary budget on appropriate occasions. Measures to resolve rubber prices devaluing Referring to a continuous decrease in rubber prices, rubber farmers in the south started to hold several protest since the beginning of August that led to a closure of highway routes in Surat Thani and Nakorn Sri Thammarat provinces. On 23rd, they clashed with police officers and some few injuries were reported. Several measures were subsequently applied or would be applied to resolve the problems. They were: A direct distribution of fertilizer to farmers having maximum planting area of 10 rais Encourage farmers to replant rubber trees older than 25 years with new ones. A annul of cess tax on rubber exporters for 4 months, starting from September to December 2013. A financial aid of Baht 5,268 to farmers having maximum planting area of 10 rais. Each will get Baht 1,260 per rai on condition that they must occupy the land legally. The Rubber Replanting Aid Fund Act B.E. 2503 requires rubber exporters to pay a cess tax of Baht 2 per kg into the Fund and to be divided into: 10% for the administration of the Rubber Estate Organization. 5% for research and development; breeding and technology. 85% for replanting of old trees. It was anticipated that the tax waive will stimulate exporters to buy more and strengthen competency in the Thai exporters. Thailand produces an average of 3.6 million ton of smoked rubber annually and more than 90% was exported. As the world economy slow down and global demand in rubber declined, domestic prices decreased constantly. As there is a current stock of 200,000 tons in the country, the government is considering a policy to use these stocks for road construction and maintenance in the country. More Baht 2.7 billion for 2013/14 rice pledge On 26th August, the National Rice Policy Committee endorsed pledging prices of the 2013/14 season, as follow: Baht 15,000 per ton, for paddy rice with 15% maximum moisture with a limitation to Baht 350,000 per household. Baht 20,000 per ton for jasmine rice with 15% maximum moisture. Baht 13,000 per ton for paddy rice of more than 15% moisture with a limitation to Baht 300,000 per household. These prices shall be applied from 1st October 2013 to 28th February 2014. A Baht 270 billion has been allocated and it was anticipated that a total of 18 million tons of rice would be pledged. Job-seekers increased in Q2 The Labor Ministry unveiled that in Q2 Ratio of people seeking for jobs rose at 34.9% from Q1. Ratio of unemployment to the employed was 0.77%. There were 226,000 people applied to 138,000 vacancies, making a ratio of seekers to vacancies 163.4%. Ratio increased from the 121.12% in same quarter of 2012. The northeastern has the most ratio of job-sought to vacancy, 205.25%, followed by Bangkok Metropolitan 197.19%, southern 183.46%, northern 154.47% and central 131.57%. Tablet PCs used inefficiently Education Ministry Chaturon Chaisang will urge the responsible agencies to quickly develop education software for tablet PCs due to a research disclosed that only 20% of Grade I students and teachers were able to use them efficiently. The research also unveiled that teachers could not adjust tablet pedagogies to suit local environs. Thailand competency On 20th August, the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission reported to the cabinet that in 2013 the corruption index ranked Thailand 88th among 176 countries. Its investment opportunity was 17th among 183 countries and competency, 30th among 59 countries.