Sommai Phasee, deputy finance minister, said the ministry expected state enterprises to spend an additional 20 to 25 per cent of their budget over the next couple of months.

The government's target for 17 state enterprises' disbursement is 80 per cent of their budget of Bt331 billion.

The ministry yesterday met with the enterprises in order to discuss disbursement amid concerns that government spending this year would to be too low to stimulate the economy.

According to Sommai, state enterprises spent only Bt50 billion from October to February, which represented only 14.15 per cent of the target. He expects spending to increase over the next three months.

He suggested enterprises should buy goods from overseas to speed up the procurement process amid the baht's appreciation. In addition, any enterprise wanting to borrow foreign funds should speed up the process as it is a suitable time to get such loans.

The 17 enterprises have an investment budget of Bt331.28 billion and are likely to disburse about Bt260 billion, or 80 per cent, compared to an average rate of only 70 per cent so far.

Sommai said disbursement at the start of the fiscal year was usually slow, but spending would accelerate from April to June.

However, the State Railway of Thailand still has problems affecting its spending, he added. There is a need to manage its budget in anticipation of several mega-projects, including the Red Line and the Airport Link.

The National Housing Authority also has to solve problems with the Ua Athorn project initiated by the Thaksin Shinawatra government.