State salaries and benefits face scrutiny

The Comptroller-General’s Department, the Budget Bureau and the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) are considering how to reform salaries and benefits in all government sectors.
According to Patricia Mongkhonvanit, director-general of the Comptroller-General’s Department, the government needs to address this issue because the budget allocated for these items is extremely high.
The fiscal health and long-term fiscal burden of the government must be examined, she said. For example, the annual healthcare budget for civil servants is around 100 billion baht, excluding pensions, which continues to rise as life expectancy increases.
The emergence of new diseases and the rising costs of medicine are also factors, said Mrs Patricia.
The department needs to assess whether it can negotiate on prices or cap these expenses, she said.
A comprehensive review of the entire civil service process is required, from recruitment to salaries and benefits, said Mrs Patricia.
Discussions are ongoing between the Comptroller-General’s Department, the Budget Bureau and the OCSC about long-term impacts and how recruitment for new civil servants should proceed. While no conclusions have been reached, there are several options being considered. For example, salaries could be made competitive with the private sector, or the compensation packages could be similar to those of private companies, or the current salary system might remain unchanged.
“We are integrating all options before making a final decision on which package to adopt,” she said.
In fiscal 2023, total expenditure on salaries, pension contributions and compensation for government personnel amounted to 818 billion baht, an increase of 0.78% from the previous fiscal year.
Over the past six years (fiscal 2018–2023), there was no salary base adjustment and the number of civil servants increased slightly.
In fiscal 2022, there were 1,513,722 civil servants, an increase of 0.21% year-on-year.
Total welfare expenditure for government personnel in fiscal 2023 amounted to 514 billion baht, growing by 7.61% year-on-year.
Costs for healthcare and pensions are increasing as Thailand transitions to an aged society.
Public welfare expenditure tallied 398 billion baht in fiscal 2023, an increase of 7.42% year-on-year.