Six ministries spend big on PR activities
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SIX ministries have spent more than Bt100 million each on public relations, advertising and events over the past six months, a source revealed yesterday.
“The biggest spender is the Energy Ministry. It has spent Bt455 million,” the source said, citing information from the Monitoring and Auditing Committee on Fiscal Expenditures. The source said that the committee’s chairman Lt-General Chartudom Titthasiri had passed the information to the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The data reveals that the second-biggest public-relations spender is the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry, spending Bt387 million, followed by Finance Ministry, which has used Bt215 million.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry came in fourth with Bt194 million, followed by Commerce Ministry (Bt173 million) and the Interior Ministry (Bt137 million). “Provincial authorities have spent a total of Bt105 million on public relations, advertising and events,” the source added.
However, some ministries have used much less for the same purpose. The Social Development and Human Security Ministry has only spent Bt14 million on PR activities. The review also showed that PTT had spent as much as Bt241 million, TOT spent Bt142 million and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has used up Bt135 million for the same purposes. CAT Telecom and the Government Savings Bank have spent Bt109 million each, while the Tourism Authority of Thailand has spent Bt104 million.
The Department of International Trade Promotion has used Bt96 million and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has spent Bt66.5 million in promotional activities over the last six months.
