Move Forward party leader Chaithawat Tulathon has described the government’s budget bill as “old wine in a new bottle” which lacks objectives, strategy, prioritisation and organisation.

Taking the floor on the first day of the 3-day debate on the budget, Chaithawat, who is also the opposition leader, said that several of the projects claimed as new by the government are, in fact, continuations of old projects and the only thing which is new is that they are being proposed by newly-created agencies.

He also said that no budget has been allocated to the referendum, for the drafting of a new Constitution, or to compensate the Electricity Generating Authority for subsidising electricity price cuts.

Budget allocations are not related to government policies, as they are disorganised and lack objectives, claimed Chaithawat, as he described the government as just an interim government for a specific mission.

He said the budget bill clearly reflects the revival of centralisation, with the government bureaucracy as the central organisation, in which most of the budget is concentrated, adding that, instead of improving the capabilities of government officials, more officials have been employed, resulting in an increase in government expenditure, accounting for 40% of the budget.

In conclusion, he said the budget bill is a big let-down.

Move Forward MP Sirikanya Tansakul wonders why the “digital wallet” scheme does not appear in the bill. “What kind of crisis it is?  Why does the budget look as if there is no crisis at all?” she asked during the debate today.

She also noted that the budget to improve the country’s competitiveness has been cut substantially, to only 15 billion baht from 100 billion as earlier promised by the government. This clearly indicates that the government cannot find the money, she said.