Thai prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s administration has placed greater emphasis on fiscal consolidation as it faces a stretched budget due to relatively high spending. (AFP pic)BANGKOK: Thailand plans to introduce an early retirement program for civil servants, as it seeks to cut the state workforce by about 5% a year to reduce government spending, deputy prime minister Pakorn Nilprapunt said.
The programme, expected to start fiscal 2027, will initially target employees aged 50 and over, while from 40 years old workers may qualify on the grounds of poor health or because of they need to take care of relatives, he said.
The first phase is estimated to cost the government about 7 billion baht (US$209 million), according to Pakorn. As of June 2023, Thailand had as many as 1.68 million civil servants.
