Thai efficiency of the thai bureaucracy has dropped over the past ten years despite a 50 percent increase in personnel and a threefold hide in the budget for civil servants salary and benefits, a study by Thailand Future Foundation (TFF) has found.
The TFF cited a world bank survey on efficiency of the Thai bureaucracy, showing it has dropped from 65 to 74th in a 196 country ranking. And corruption in the public sector had also got worse - falling from a ranking of 91st to 98th in a survey by the World Economic Forum.
The latter survey also ranked cronyism among Thai bureaucrats in a low position - 93 in a 148 - country ranking, down with Malawi and India.
The number of civil servants, state employees and contract workers in total is now at 2.2 million - a 50 percent increase from ten years ago. Said the World Bank survey, which was released late last year.
The number of those in the two latter position has increased six times and their salary base has been heightened to match those offered by private companies.
Regular government spending on these personnel and other benefits including medical bills average Bt1.1 trillion each year, which accounts for nearly half the governments annual fiscal spending.
Meanwhile, other spending on government personnel is about 7 percent of gross domestic product, compared to six percent in Malaysia, five in the Philippines and three in Singapore.
A rise was given to employees of state-enterprise agencies recently, at an average 6.5 percent, not long after a rise given to civil servants at an average 4 percent, with salary base set to be broaden to 4 percent. these were the sixth rise over the decade.