“Pradorn” revealed there is a remaining fiscal space of 800 billion baht available to implement crisis response policies. The Cabinet approved a budget strategy that does not rely on previous budget baselines, aiming to restore the economy amid the global crisis, address the country’s situation, and primarily safeguard citizens’ livelihoods.
On 21 Apr 2026 GMT+7, Mr. Pradorn Prisananantakul, Minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office, stated that the Cabinet approved the budget strategy for the fiscal year 2027 as proposed by the Budget Bureau. He confirmed that although the government took office during a transitional period, the budget calendar will proceed as planned, ensuring funds can be disbursed starting 1 Oct 2026. From now until 1 May 2026, budget-receiving units will submit their requests to the Budget Bureau, which will review and reduce them to fit within the ceiling of 3.788 trillion baht within one month. The details will then be submitted to the Cabinet for approval on 2 Jun 2026, followed by a public consultation and the first reading in the House of Representatives from 1-3 Jul. The House will spend about 70 days reviewing amendments before proceeding to the second and third readings in early September. Then it will be forwarded to the Senate on 10-11 Sep for submission to His Majesty the King for royal assent and promulgation into law.
Regarding the 2026 budget transfer bill, it will definitely be enacted to expedite funds for public relief from war impacts. However, a strategy must be devised to avoid violating Section 140 of the Constitution. If the transfer occurs now, the 50-60 billion baht obtained would first have to cover over 70 billion baht in outstanding treasury liabilities from 2025, an expenditure burden from the previous fiscal year. Therefore, the government decided to enact the transfer bill after the 2027 budget is approved by the Cabinet on 2 Jun 2026, to allocate treasury liabilities in the 2027 budget instead, leaving actual funds from the transfer available for public relief.
Mr. Pradorn further stated that for the preparation of the 2027 budget, the Prime Minister emphasized the prolonged war situation requiring a focus on cost-effectiveness and a zero-based budgeting approach. The budget will not be based on previous baselines but must address three key points: the global situation, national circumstances affecting livelihoods, and public relief.
“The austerity measures include allowing budget requests to increase by no more than 20% from previous allocations for expedited review—for example, if previously allocated 100 baht, requests can be up to 120 baht, unlike before when budgets of 3 trillion baht were requested at 5 trillion baht. Construction of new office buildings will be delayed for 1-2 years, favoring leases or public-private partnerships instead. Civil servants will not be permitted overseas study tours to save expenses; meetings will be limited to essential participants only. Additionally, provincial cluster budgets will be temporarily suspended. Provincial budgets will cut duplicate projects such as roads and water sources, focusing only on tourism and community economy. This is expected to reduce budgets from over 20 billion baht to just 4 billion baht, saving up to 20 billion baht. Government vehicles will switch entirely to electric vehicles, and solar roofs will be installed on government buildings, allowing renegotiations with existing contractors to transition to clean energy.”
Mr. Pradorn added that the government will not retain the saved budget in the central budget but will reallocate it first to public relief projects under the umbrella program called "Thai Helps Thai." This program will cover 13.4 million state welfare cardholders, including cheap fertilizer projects, reduced-interest loans for farmers, affordable Thong Fah (Blue Flag) shops, and the Khon La Khrueng Plus program targeting 20-30 million participants who will receive at least 2,000 baht each. From the 3.78 trillion baht budget ceiling, after deducting regular expenses, the government will have a fiscal space of 700-800 billion baht available to drive policies, which is sufficient to stimulate the economy and alleviate public hardship during this crisis.