BANGKOK, 6 June 2013 Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered the Ministry of Commerce to report the extent of losses incurred from the rice pledging scheme by Friday, after Moody’s ratings agency asserted Thailand is suffering a 200 billion baht per year loss from the pledging program.
Ms. Yingluck yesterday (June 5) called a meeting of all agencies involved with the rice pledging program, after an outcry by the Opposition over the alleged 200 billion baht loss and Moody’s indication that it will downgrade Thailand due to accumulated losses from the pledging program.
Prime Minister’s Office Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan said the prime minister was very concerned with the issue and has told responsible agencies to report all figures related to losses from rice pledging within 1-2 days. Mr. Niwatthamrong asserted the project has not been experiencing the alleged loss of 260 billion baht, and the losses were only in the tens of billions of baht. He added that the budget to run the program until the end of this year, set at 500 billion baht, will not be increased.
