The new office to handle income disparity has pledged to not only increase the income of the poor, but also fully support them in achieving greater access to basic needs such as education and justice.
Thosaporn Sirisamphand, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, which oversees the new office, said the NESDB will also join with the Budget Bureau to reduce redundancy in projects related to income disparity in fiscal 2019 to make the most efficient use of the fiscal budget.
For fiscal 2019, the government has allocated 800 billion baht worth of budget to narrow income disparity, 500 billion of which will be allocated to state welfare schemes such as the 30-baht public healthcare programme and social welfare for children, the elderly and the disabled, and 397.5 billion of which will battle poverty and disparity via Pracha Rat and other public-private collaborative projects.
The government aims to tackle income disparity as soon as possible after the cabinet approved the establish of the Income Disparity Office under the NESDB and two committees on Tuesday.
The two committees are the income disparity reduction policy committee chaired by the premier, handling strategy and policy in narrowing income disparity, and the income disparity management committee chaired by Prime Minister's Office Minister Kobsak Pootrakool, which is tasked with setting the index on income disparity and devising solutions, as well as monitoring projects implemented to reduce income disparity by related state agencies.
According to Mr Thosaporn, the income disparity management committee chaired by Mr Kobsak is scheduled to hold its first meeting in the first week of January.
Mr Kobsak said the government may need to allocate more budget to children because research shows that better care for those aged 0-6 years will increase their IQ.
The government will allocate 600 baht a month per child to low-income families until the children reach six years old.
