BANGKOK, 9 January 2013 The Constitution Court on Wednesday held its first hearing on whether the passing of the 2-trillion baht loan bill was constitutional.
The first hearing started with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong defending the bill, saying off-budget borrowings would not pose a threat to the public debt burden, which would still be kept under 60 percent of the country’s GDP. He added that the bill was nothing new as the previous government led by the Democrat Party did it once 3 years ago.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt told the court that all of the 53 planned projects were constitutional and met the requirements of the environmental impact assessment (EIA), while assuring that the 2.2 trillion baht loan was transparent and open to scrutiny.
The bill came under heavy attack by the Democrat Party, who claimed that such an enormous amount of loan would leave huge burden to generations to come, incurring an estimated 3 trillion baht interest over the next 50 years.
The Constitution Court will hold the second hearing on January 15th at 10 am.
