On 23 May, the Bangkok Post reported that losses from Thailand’s (Baa1 stable) rice buying scheme in the harvest season 2011-12 are bigger than the Ministry of Finance originally forecast. At the same time, the Thai authorities appear committed to maintaining the scheme unchanged. These recent losses, and any future losses from the unmodified rice buying scheme, increase the difficulty of the government’s task of reaching its goal of a balanced budget by 2017, and are credit negative for the Thai sovereign.