BANGKOK, Jan 19 (Bernama) — Thailand has set aside 5.40 billion baht (RM648 million) to buy 100,000 tonnes of rubber from its farmers affected by the plunge in the commodity’s price.
Government’s spokesman, Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, said the programme would benefit 850,000 farmers and help lift the present low prices.
“The allocation for the programme will be drawn from the budget of several ministries, Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperative as well as cess from rubber exports,” he told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting here today.
He said 4.5 billion baht would be used to buy the rubber at 45 baht (RM5.45) per kg and the rest would be for programme management.
Thailand, one of the largest rubber-producing countries in the world, is badly affected by the present low prices of the commodity mainly due to slower demand from China.
The country is expected to produce four million tonnes of rubber this year.
Last week, the Thai government agreed to buy raw rubber sheets from the country’s planters at 45 baht per kg, below the 60 baht (RM7.27) per kg demanded by the rubber associations.
The rubber buying programme introduced by the government is a hotly debated in Thailand, with politicians and leaders of rubber association expressing differing views.
Meanwhile, Sansern said, the cabinet has also approved a budget of 20 billion baht (RM2.4 billion) for telecommunications development projects, including bridging the rural-urban Internet gap.
He said the project to bring the facility to 43 per cent of the Thai villages who had yet to be connected with the Internet would start in March this year, with most of the allocation to be used within this year.
“The project to be implemented by state enterprises would also include efforts to turn Thailand into a Digital Gateway, comparable to Malaysia and Singapore,” he said.
— BERNAMA
