The Cabinet met on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at Command Building, Government House. Some of the resolutions are as follows;
Title: Measures to improve living standard of low-income earners and to boost up government's small-scale investments across the nation
The Cabinet agreed and approved proposals made by Ministry of Finance as follows;
1. The Cabinet approved criteria and conditions of measures to improve living standards at a village-level, and implementation budget of 2.478 billion Baht
2. The Cabinet agreed on measures to improve living standards at a sub-district (Tambon) level and approved the implementation project worth 36.275 billion Baht. Ministry of Interior is authorized to set related rules and regulations, and submit to the Cabinet for its approval within 2 weeks after the Cabinet approved the measures.
3. The Cabinet approved measures to boost up the government's small-scale investments across the country, and implementation budget of 40 billion Baht
Gist of the Matter
Ministry of Finance reported that in the first half of 2015, Thai economy expanded by 2.9%, which is lower than expected due to the downturn of export. It is, therefore, necessary to execute measures to improve the living standards of low-income earners and measures to boost up the government's small-scale investments across the country as follows;
1. Measures to improve living standards of low-income citizens
1.1 Measures to improve living standards at a village level
1.1.1 Facilitate up to 1 million Baht loans to each of the Village and Urban Community Fund Project (Village Fund), both at levels A and B, under the condition that the Funds would not refinance existing debt. Total budget under this measure is 60 billion Baht, consisting of 30,000 million Baht loan from Government Saving Bank and 30,000 million Baht from Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC Bank)
1.1.2 Government Saving Bank and BAAC are to facilitate credits to the Village Fund for 7 years since the day the contract is signed.
1.1.3 For the compensation, Government Saving Bank would receive compensation of 2.21% a year for 2 years, while BAAC would receive 1.92% a year for 2 years under the total budget of 2.478 billion Baht
1.2 Measures to improve living standards at a sub-district (Tambon) level
(1) The Cabinet authorized Ministry of Interior to be the main agency to proceed with the measures to improve living standards at a Tambon level, and to allocate the budget of 5 million Baht for each Tambon (7,255 Tambon, a total budget of 36,275 million Baht) in order to implement projects that can promote employment or procurement of products and services within each province such as the following;
(1.1) Improvement and renovation of assets for public use, such as renovation of water resource and water distribution system, clinics, schools, and central markets, as well as improvement of solid waste disposal sites, etc.
(1.2) Projects to promote community development based on His Majesty the King's Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, such as growing new plants that has potential market, career change, construction of dikes, growing community forests and trees and etc.
(1.3) Social and economic projects, such as capacity enhancement in employment of villagers and community people, repairs and improvements, childcare centers, nursing homes, etc.
Proposed projects must not be overlapped with existing programs, projects or activities of government sectors, agencies, or local agencies implemented in the area.
2. Measures to boost up the government's small-scale investments across the country
2.1 Objective: To stimulate employment and promote both central and provincial investments
2.2 Gist of the matter: The total budget of 40 billion Baht.
2.2.1 Government sector, state enterprises and other agencies, except local administrations, funds, and revolving funds, which have action plans conforming to measures to boost up the government's small-scale investments, are authorized to lay out the action plans, detailing important and necessary capital expenditure for efficiency enhancement of each agency. The budget is 1 million Baht for each program.
2.2.2 Government sector, state enterprises and other agencies, are authorized to implement measures in enhancing efficiency of which the budget for FY2016 was already allocated. Laying out of action and financial plans in accordance with measures to boost up the government's small-scale investments across the country can be undertaken under the budget of up to 1 million Baht.
Widespread of projects to cover all areas must be taken into account. Monitoring plan and performance reports must later be submitted to Bureau of the Budget.
Title: Third modification of public debt management plan (FY2015)
The Cabinet acknowledged and approved proposals made by Ministry of Finance as follows;
1. The Cabinet acknowledged the 3rd modification of public debt management plan (FY2015), with the reduction of budget by 132,365.87 million Baht from 1,597,566.30 million Baht to 1,465,200.43 million Baht
2. The Cabinet approved loan made by the Government to be provided as loans to state enterprises, and to be used in loan guarantee for state enterprises under the Public Debt Management Act, B.E. 2548. It also approved state enterprises’ loan requests for investment implementations, and loans for debt restructuring under the framework of the 3rd modification of public debt management plan (FY2015).
3. The Cabinet approved for the Ministry of Finance to be responsible for consideration of loans and related criteria, loan guarantee process, and risk management as appropriate under the framework of the 3rd modification of public debt management plan of FY2015.
4. The Cabinet approved for Finance Minister or an authorized person to sign on loan contracts and/or letters of guarantee and other related documents.
Title: The 1st Indian Ocean Rim Association Ministerial Blue Economy Conference (BEC)
The Cabinet approved proposals made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows;
1. The Cabinet agreed in principle to the Draft Mauritius Declaration on Blue Economy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is authorized to proceed with the revision of the draft document, if not affecting essence of the document or the country’s benefits, without seeking for further Cabinet's consideration.
2. The Cabinet approved assignment of Minister of Foreign Affairs or his representative as head of the Thai delegation to attend the 1st Indian Ocean Rim Association Ministerial Blue Economy Conference (BEC), and to endorse the Draft Mauritius Declaration on Blue Economy
Gist of the Matter
The objective of Draft Mauritius Declaration on Blue Economy is to promote cooperation in the sustainable and efficient development of the Blue Economy in the Indian Ocean region, which is essential for the countries that share maritime boundaries in the Indian Ocean. Therefore, Thailand should take constructive part in cooperatively endorsing the draft Declaration. The Government of Mauritius will host the 1st Indian Ocean Rim Association Ministerial Blue Economy Conference during September 2-4, 2015. Draft Mauritius Declaration on Blue Economy will be endorsed at the Conference in order to express intent of the member states in pushing forward this cooperation.
Title: The 2nd APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting
The Cabinet approved proposals made by Office of National Economics and Social Development Board as follows;
1. The Cabinet agreed on the Joint Ministerial Statement of the 2nd APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting
2. The Cabinet approved the appointment of Minister of Transport and Secretary-General National Economic and Social Development Board or his representative as head of the Thai delegation to attend APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting during September 7-8, 2015 in Cebu City, Philippines, and to endorse the draft Joint Ministerial Statement without any signing.
3. Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board is authorized to proceed with the revision of the draft document, if not affecting the essence of document, without seeking for further Cabinet's consideration
Gist of the Matter
Joint Ministerial Statement is the discussion outcome on the development of APEC's work progress in structural reform, which is part of APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform (ANSSR) and endorsement on operating direction after 2015.
--Cabinet Meeting (Prayut Chan-o-cha) September 01, 2015--