A PTT petrol station in central Bangkok. Domestic oil consumption has dipped in line with the economy during the pandemic.
A decline in local automotive and oil sales has affected the Excise Department’s revenue collection, said director-general Lavaron Sangsnit.
He said a shortage of semiconductor chips, a key component for vehicles, has affected domestic car sales and in turn excise tax collection.
Domestic fuel consumption has also dipped, in line with the country’s weakening economy. The oil excise tax accounts for one third of the department’s excise revenue.
Mr Lavaron said the department recently downgraded its revenue target for fiscal 2021 to 549 billion baht because of the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
He believes the department can meet the new target as excise revenue in the first half of the year exceeded expectations.
Earlier, the department set the revenue target at 630 billion baht on the assumption that the economy will expand by 4% this year.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) slashed its economic growth projection for this year again to 0.7% as the third wave of Covid-19 has had a more severe impact on the country’s economy since the central bank conducted its earlier projection.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Wednesday decided to cut the GDP growth forecast for 2021 to 0.7% from 1.8% last month.
The MPC also cut its projection for Thai economic growth in 2022 to 3.7%, down from its previous forecast of 3.9%.
During the first nine months of fiscal 2021, the Excise Department collected excise of 416 billion baht, falling short of the 9-month target by 11.5% or 54.2 billion baht.
The Revenue Department collected revenue of 1.31 trillion baht during the first nine months of fiscal 2021, falling short of its 9-month target by 9% or 130 billion baht. However, the figure is 4.3% or 53.7 billion baht higher than the same period in the previous year.
The Finance Ministry collected total net revenue of 1.73 trillion baht in the first nine months of fiscal 2021, shy of its 9-month target by 10.1% or 195 billion baht, but still 2.9% or 49.5 billion baht higher than the same period in fiscal 2020.