Thailand clears $70b infrastructure loan
Thailand’s cabinet has approved a bill authorising the Ministry of Finance for a two-trillion-baht ($70 billion) borrowing to fund the government’s new mega-infrastructure development projects over the next seven years, the Thai News Agency reported on March 20.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong said that the bill will allow his ministry to borrow the money from both domestic and overseas sources to mostly sponsor large new transport development projects to cut national logistic costs.
He said the projects will increase transport conveniences and upgrade Thailand’s transport networks, covering those linking with neighbouring countries.
Kittirat noted that the borrowing will depend mainly on domestic sources, as liquidity in the Thai financial sector still exceeds two trillion baht, and that the government will limit borrowing from overseas sources to prevent impacts from the ongoing appreciation of the Thai baht, which will, otherwise, cause excessive capital inflows.
Government House spokesman Tosaporn Sereerak said that at present, the country’s public debt is at 44 per cent of GDP and that the government would ensure that strict fiscal discipline would be practiced and confirmed that the public debt would not exceed 50 per cent of GDP within the next 7 years despite the huge borrowing.
Transport Minister Chadchat Sittipunt said the amount will be spent on the new official investment projects under three strategies, including logistic development, transport connection with neighboring countries, namely high-speed train and port projects, and mass rail transit development, covering new electric train systems on 10 routes.
Meanwhile, Belgian enterprises have shown strong interest in pouring investment into Thailand across a number of sectors, mainly transport and infrastructure development under the government’s plans, it turned out during the recent visit of Prince Philippe of Belgium’s to Thailand, during which he led more than 200 leading Belgian enterprises in a business-matching session with Thai companies in Bangkok.
[caption id="attachment_7752" align="alignleft" width="179"] As part of a massive infrastructure investment, Thailand plans to upgrade its outdated railway system[/caption] Thailand's cabinet has approved a bill authorising the Ministry of Finance for a two-trillion-baht ($70 billion) borrowing to fund the government's new mega-infrastructure development projects over the next seven years, the Thai News Agency reported on March 20. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong said that the bill will allow his ministry to borrow the money from both domestic and overseas sources to mostly sponsor large new transport development projects to cut national logistic costs. He said the projects...
Thailand’s cabinet has approved a bill authorising the Ministry of Finance for a two-trillion-baht ($70 billion) borrowing to fund the government’s new mega-infrastructure development projects over the next seven years, the Thai News Agency reported on March 20.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong said that the bill will allow his ministry to borrow the money from both domestic and overseas sources to mostly sponsor large new transport development projects to cut national logistic costs.
He said the projects will increase transport conveniences and upgrade Thailand’s transport networks, covering those linking with neighbouring countries.
Kittirat noted that the borrowing will depend mainly on domestic sources, as liquidity in the Thai financial sector still exceeds two trillion baht, and that the government will limit borrowing from overseas sources to prevent impacts from the ongoing appreciation of the Thai baht, which will, otherwise, cause excessive capital inflows.
Government House spokesman Tosaporn Sereerak said that at present, the country’s public debt is at 44 per cent of GDP and that the government would ensure that strict fiscal discipline would be practiced and confirmed that the public debt would not exceed 50 per cent of GDP within the next 7 years despite the huge borrowing.
Transport Minister Chadchat Sittipunt said the amount will be spent on the new official investment projects under three strategies, including logistic development, transport connection with neighboring countries, namely high-speed train and port projects, and mass rail transit development, covering new electric train systems on 10 routes.
Meanwhile, Belgian enterprises have shown strong interest in pouring investment into Thailand across a number of sectors, mainly transport and infrastructure development under the government’s plans, it turned out during the recent visit of Prince Philippe of Belgium’s to Thailand, during which he led more than 200 leading Belgian enterprises in a business-matching session with Thai companies in Bangkok.
Now that Thailand will begin to borrow money from domestic and overseas sources, Thailand has to be strategic in how it invests this money especially as the government is strict about the public debt not exceeding 50 per cent of GDP in the next 7 years. This in itself is a challenge because of the large money that will be borrowed. It will be interesting to see how Thailand’s economy develops throughout the seven years to come.