BANGKOK, 5 August 2014 – Several agencies voiced support on Monday for the raising of civil servants’ salary, even if doing so would cause inflation to mildly accelerate.
Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Rangsan Siworasat met with officials from the Comptroller General’s Department on Monday to discuss raising the salary of civil servants. Those at the meeting agreed to prioritize on increasing the income of lower-level civil servants and state employees who earned less than 9,000 baht per month.
State Enterprise Policy Office director Kulit Sombatsiri said on Friday his agency was also looking to make adjustments to the salaries of state enterprise employees, in line with the planned raising of civil servants’ salaries; emphasis would similarly be on lower-level employees who earned low income.
The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking also voiced support for the pay raises, saying Thai public sector workers had relatively low pay compared to their knowledge and capability. It noted, however, that doing so would slightly affect the prices of products and the inflation rate.
Internal Trade Department director-general Chintana Chaiwannakan, meanwhile, admitted raising the salaries of state employees could make the inflation rate slightly higher, but this would not be the primary concern.
The Ministry of Finance is looking at four options for raising the total income of public sector workers – raising salaries by 8%, raising the ‘cost of living pay’ of civil servants, adjusting the pay scale, and providing other kinds of remuneration. The aim is for the total income to be at least 9,000 baht.
