The Finance Ministry reported losses from the rice pledging scheme in the 2011/2012 harvest season at Bt136 billion, according to Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office Varathep Rattanakorn.

He said the figure was concluded by the Finance Ministry’s accounting assessment sub-committee and reported to the National Rice Committee NRC yesterday. According to the sub-committee, the government spent Bt352 billion to buy 21.7 million tonnes of rice in the 2011/2012 crop while Bt156 billion worth of rice remains in the stockpiles and the sold volume was Bt59 billion, leaving net losses of Bt136.908 billion. The accounting assessment sub-committee could not conclude the losses in the 2012/2013 harvest season due to different figures on rice in the stockpiles, he said.

Relevant agencies were instructed to check rice stocks and report to the sub-committee, he said. Mr Varathep said the Bt136 billion losses were estimated, but the actual losses, speculated to reach Bt260 billion, could not be calculated until rice is completely released from all stockpiles.

The NRC also instructed the accounting assessment sub-committee to conclude its figures on a quarterly basis and the next closing entries would be for May 31 this year, he said.Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the NRC meeting initially agreed to lower the pledging rice price of Bt15,000 per tonne to between Bt12,000-13,500 per tonne, while the price of jasmine rice will be settled in the next few months after thorough study and then will be proposed to the committee and the cabinet for consideration. MCOT online news

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