Cabinet approves budget worth B17.5bn for Village Funds
The cabinet on October 25 approved a 17.5-billion-baht budget for 74,655 Village Funds across the country at 250,000 baht each for local development. The move is a fresh bid to boost the rural economy, prevent people from borrowing from loan sharks and maintain the country’s economic momentum in the final quarter. The central budget for fiscal 2016 will be used as the source and Village Funds that receive the budget are required to kick off their projects between November and January. Projects that will be financed by the new budget must be able to strengthen and benefit communities such as road repairs, renovation of schools and construction of silos for farm products, government spokesman Sansern KaewKamnerd said. To qualify for funding from the budget, each Village Fund must propose projects to committees in each district before they are forwarded to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan o-cha for final approval.
