ID :
209969
Wed, 09/28/2011 - 12:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/209969
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Thailand's rice mortgage scheme starts in October
BANGKOK, September 28 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong said on Wednesday that his Pheu Thai Party-led government is ready to implement the rice mortgage scheme on October 7, as earlier scheduled.
Kittirat told a seminar on his ministry's preparation for the 2011-2012 rice mortgage scheme that the government will simultaneously launch the rice mortgage scheme in all areas across the country.
In response to concerns aired by critics, including former Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula and a Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) honorary academic Ammar Siamwala, over corruption related to the rice mortgage scheme, Kittirat insisted that the government, in cooperation with provincial and communal bodies, has prepared measures to ensure transparency of the scheme.
The Thai deputy premier noted that his administration will also seek advice from experts, including the former BOT governor and the prominent Thai economist, and that the government-run Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) has been assigned to retail bagged-rice with cheaper prices to low-income consumers in the country following the launch of the rice mortgage, which normally raises rice prices subsequently.
Regarding a rice export plan to Indonesia, tentatively approved by the former Democrat Party-led government, the new Thai deputy premier and commerce minister confirmed that the plan has now been scrapped due to a disparity of prices between that set under the old deal and that set under the rice mortgage scheme, saying that he has informed and sought a common understanding on the issue with the Indonesian top envoy in Bangkok. (TNA)
Kittirat told a seminar on his ministry's preparation for the 2011-2012 rice mortgage scheme that the government will simultaneously launch the rice mortgage scheme in all areas across the country.
In response to concerns aired by critics, including former Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula and a Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) honorary academic Ammar Siamwala, over corruption related to the rice mortgage scheme, Kittirat insisted that the government, in cooperation with provincial and communal bodies, has prepared measures to ensure transparency of the scheme.
The Thai deputy premier noted that his administration will also seek advice from experts, including the former BOT governor and the prominent Thai economist, and that the government-run Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) has been assigned to retail bagged-rice with cheaper prices to low-income consumers in the country following the launch of the rice mortgage, which normally raises rice prices subsequently.
Regarding a rice export plan to Indonesia, tentatively approved by the former Democrat Party-led government, the new Thai deputy premier and commerce minister confirmed that the plan has now been scrapped due to a disparity of prices between that set under the old deal and that set under the rice mortgage scheme, saying that he has informed and sought a common understanding on the issue with the Indonesian top envoy in Bangkok. (TNA)
