Fiscal Decentralization in Thailand
Under the Decentralization Law 1999, Thailand commenced implementation of fiscal decentralization more than 10 years ago. The program’s major objective is to delegate fiscal authority from national administration to local administration.
It is the first time in Thai history to have a law specifying a framework, direction, and most importantly; timing for fiscal decentralization. As the law accelerates the fiscal decentralization process, many weaknesses have become apparent at both policy and implementation levels of the program. Some leading Thai political and academic f igures from different f ields have suggested that a kind of fiscal decentralization status should be included in the government’s agenda. While the
government itself sends the signal that the proposed measure should be viable,
the problem remains of how and in what form and degree f iscal decentralization
can be granted.