Thailand to cut civil service 5% a year via early retirement — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt announced an early retirement programme that aims to shrink Thailand's civil service by about 5% per year and curb government spending.
- The scheme is set to launch in fiscal 2027, first targeting employees aged 50 and over, with workers aged 40 and above eligible on grounds of poor health or caregiving duties.
- The first phase is estimated to cost roughly 7 billion baht (S$267.5 million), with compensation of more than 12 times an employee's monthly salary still under negotiation with the finance ministry.
- Thailand had as many as 1.68 million civil servants as of June 2023 — the workforce the Anutin Charnvirakul administration is now looking to pare down.
- Prime Minister Anutin's government has emphasized fiscal consolidation as the national budget approaches its self-imposed 70% ceiling, framing the retirement scheme as a way to build a buffer against economic shocks.
- Relevant agencies are finalising the plan's details, including the exact payout formula, before submitting it to the cabinet for approval.
Why it matters: For a civil service of 1.68 million, Thailand is dangling payouts exceeding 12 months of salary to induce attrition — a concrete mechanism to take the payroll down by roughly 84,000 workers per year and create fiscal room before the budget hits its self-imposed 70% ceiling.
Ask SkimNews
