State enterprises' investment budget disbursement for the eight months through August surged 60% from a year earlier, thanks largely to accelerated investment of large projects and PTT Group, says the chief of the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo).
State enterprises doled out 283 billion baht worth of investment budget from January to August, said Prapas Kong-Ied, director-general of Sepo.
The sharp increase in disbursement could be due to accelerating investment in big-ticket infrastructure projects, including the State Railway of Thailand's double-track rail, stretching from Jira to Khon Kaen province; the Orange Line electric train linking Thailand Cultural Centre to Min Buri; and the Green Line electric train connecting Mo Chit-Saphan Mai to Khu Khot.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's South Bangkok Power Plant Replacement phase 1, its Transmission System Expansion Project No.12, and investment from PTT Group also played a role, Mr Prapas said.
For fiscal 2018, the total investment budget for state enterprises was set at 446 billion baht, with 89% disbursement.
Investment budget disbursement is a government tool used to drive the country's economic growth and enhance competitiveness, so Sepo uses disbursement to assess state enterprises' performance, Mr Prapas said.
Sepo also uses Line to communicate with state enterprises' top executives, chairmen and Finance Ministry representatives who sit on state enterprises' boards, urging them to speed up investment.
On a fiscal-year basis, 45 state enterprises drew down 302 billion baht in investment budget from October to August, some 89% of the target, said Chanvit Nakburee, deputy director of the Fiscal Policy Office.
Income remittance from state enterprises has helped the government's net revenue collection exceed its target as the three tax-collecting agencies -- the Revenue Department, the Excise Department and the Customs Department -- fell short of their targets.
State enterprises' contributions were expected to surpass their target by 20 billion baht in fiscal 2018, with the tally as of August outpacing the target by 24.2 billion baht or 19%.
