State enterprises contributed 43.3 billion baht in income to government coffers from October to December, surpassing the target by 28%.

State enterprises’ income contribution was 9.55 billion baht higher than projected for the first quarter of fiscal 2018, said Ekniti Nitithanprapas, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo).

In the final month of 2017 alone, state enterprises sent 4.41 billion baht to the government, exceeding the target by 2.46 billion, he said.

State enterprise income has helped the government achieve its revenue target in recent years, even as some tax-collecting agencies failed to hit their goals. State enterprises are the third-largest contributor, after the Revenue and Excise departments.

The target for fiscal 2018 revenue collection is 2.45 trillion baht, while the annual budget is 2.9 trillion, leaving a deficit of 450 billion. But the deficit will swell to 550 billion baht when an additional 100-billion-baht borrowing plan for the supplementary budget is included.

For the 56 state enterprises, their income contribution target is 137 billion baht for fiscal 2018.

In the last fiscal year, state enterprises sent 162 billion baht to the government, outpacing the target by 24% and rising 21% from a year earlier.

The top five income-contributing state enterprises for the first quarter of fiscal 2018 were the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand at 13.4 billion baht, the Government Lottery Office at 8.4 billion, the Government Savings Bank at 6.5 billion, the Provincial Electricity Authority at 5.7 billion and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority at 2.5 billion.

Mr Ekniti said Sepo has a policy of encouraging state enterprises to raise their operating efficiency by adopting IT and innovations.

With their improving efficiency, state enterprises can hit the 137-billion-baht income contribution target for this fiscal year, helping maintain fiscal stability, he said.

Meanwhile, the cabinet yesterday green-lighted 3 trillion baht worth of fiscal 2019 budget, up 3.4% from 2.9 trillion in the fiscal 2018 budget, with the budget deficit running at 450 billion.

The fiscal 2019 budget is based on a projection that the country’s economy will grow by 4.2% in 2019.

source: Bangkok Post