BANGKOK, Nov 23 – The Commerce Ministry stood firm that it has enough budget to subsidise the rice pledging plan which needs a circulating fund of Bt500 billion.
Deputy Finance Minister Tanusak Lek-uthai denied a report that the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) ran out of funds for the rice subsidy scheme and reassured that the government is capable of managing the programme under the Bt500 billion framework.
The BAAC has paid Bt3.52 billion for the rice purchase plan which reached 20,000 farmer households, he said.
He said the government has spent Bt680 billion to purchase rice and returned Bt180 billion to the BAAC, adding that the BAAC has Bt500 billion revolving fund for rice purchases until the end of this year.
The BAAC was allocated an extra Bt82 billion for next year’s rice subsidy, Bt55 billion of which will be spent on rice subsidy for the 2013/2014 harvest, he said.
Adding Bt24 billion from the Commerce Ministry, the BAAC will have a revolving fund of Bt79 billion which is sufficient for the scheme, said Mr Tanusak.
He said the Public Debt Managment Office will issue bonds for the Bt75 billion revolving fund and the Cabinet has approved Bt7.1 billion to compensate the BAAC for rice packages.
The BAAC will also earn additional money from sales of rice on a government-to-government basis, he said.
