Government accused of lacking direction and transparency in budget management

Opposition party leader Natthapong Ruengpanyawut criticised the government for being both deaf and blind in its allocation of the 3.78 trillion baht budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Deaf for not being responsive to the recommendations and observations made by the budget scrutiny committee and blind for lacking transparency in budget allocation.

During the second and final reading debate on the budget bill today, he said that the government lacks direction and is being sufficiently prudent in the planning and allocation of budget.

Most of the investment budget, for example, has been earmarked for road building and maintenance and the dredging of clogged or shallow canals, instead of projects for national development, he pointed out, adding that the Thai economy needs injections of new investment for economic growth and for the future of the country, but the investment is concentrated on concession based projects.

Natthaphong said that the government should have spared a substantial amount for long-term development, pointing out that the country is now facing an economic crisis and the border dispute with Cambodia.

The House budget scrutiny committee managed, however, to cut ministry budgets by about 8.9 billion baht, to be reallocated for “more productive” projects, he said, adding that the committee’s recommendations on how to cut the budget, or how it could be better spent, were ignored by the government.

The opposition leader also claimed that the government has overlooked the budgets for some agencies, which are not included in the budget bill.

He cited the budget used by the State Audit Office to build a new head office, which collapsed in March due to the impacts of an earthquake in Myanmar, and the budget from the Social Security Fund, which was used to buy the SKYY9 building allegedly at highly-inflated price.