webfact Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Stimulus measures primed as economy falters By THE NATION The Fiscal Policy Office has completed economic stimulus measures and will submit them to the incoming Cabinet as soon as possible, says incoming Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak. The two measures consist of a fiscal package to be implemented by the Finance Ministry and a financial aid package including loans, to be administered by the Government Savings Bank, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand. Somkid said that economic growth in the first quarter had fallen to 2.8 per cent, as reported by the National Economic and Social Development Council. He forecast second-quarter growth of 2.8-2.9 per cent. The new government would continue to push forward the key economic policies of the previous administration, added Somkid, especially measures to woo foreign investment. The priority is to boost state revenue, for which new promising sources would be sought. He dismissed rumours that the government was running short of funds and had plans to raise value-added tax by one per cent to 8 per cent. He said that raising VAT at a time when the economy was slowing would impact people. In a related matter, incoming Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on has vowed action to tackle the drought gripping parts of the country. He and three deputy ministers will take office on Thursday. Transport Ministry permanent secretary Chaiwat Thongkamkoonm, meanwhile, said he was preparing details of projects awaiting new minister Saksayam Chidchob’s approval. Most are rail projects aimed at cutting the country’s logistics costs. He will also submit a list of projects awaiting approval from the new Cabinet, including Thai Airways International’s plan to procure new aircraft. Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30373050 -- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-07-17 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabis Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Oh dear - my head hurts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkg Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 It's time to cut interest rates, and weaken the baht a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lungstib Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 2 hours ago, webfact said: Most are rail projects aimed at cutting the country’s logistics costs. And most of these have suggested ticket prices well above what the average Thai worker can afford. Hell, they cant even get to ride Bangkoks existing below and above ground trains because of the price. What chance they will ever need to spend a weeks money getting to Chiang Mai. Isn't it great when the ruling elite spend tax payers money with hardly a thought about where it came from while they pocket millions on dodgy projects to fill their personal bank accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbezoz Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Let the slump begin and the Thai baht find its true lower level without interference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarFlungFalang Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 People aren't spending enough so they put up taxes so that they spend less,brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbezoz Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 10 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said: Let the slump begin and the Thai baht find its true lower level without interference. Very true but those with obscene amounts of money are not spending it in Thailand, rather in countries outside such as Germany etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mok199 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 And for my first illusion, I will make the baht even stronger...Somchai the Amazing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 3 hours ago, webfact said: .....financial aid package including loans..... Loans are always a good way of increasing the already ballooning household debt which stands at 77.6% of GDP. Good one Somkid! .......And that's apart from the rising level of loans on automobiles. "Thai households are among the biggest borrowers in Asia and they are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with payments". https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-economy-debt/as-debt-levels-rise-more-thais-struggle-to-keep-up-idUSKCN1LF0CQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tompelli Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Great post Cadbury. In our village the over 60's with little/no income are having a 50K baht loan dangled in front of them. Repayable with zero interest over 7 years. The government are kicking the household debt down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerojero Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Tackle the drought. Really? How? Sheesh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaan sailor Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Instead of tweaking taxes and increasing loans—why not cut interest rates, and swear off the mysterious hot money inflow that BoT so unabashedly covets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo1968 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Strange in another report the strong Baht is not to blame for the decrease in Tourism, do the government departments speak too each other before press releases ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Curious that before the elections Prayut touted all the junta's many economic successes: Executive Summary Fourth Year Performance Report of the Government ofGeneral Prayut Chan-o-cha (12 September 2017-12 September 2018) - examples such as restoring household, business, investor and tourist confidence in Thailand; revived the economy through a series of economic stimulus packages with emphasis on alleviating the plight of farmers, low-income earners and SMEs; easing household financial burden; easing transport cost burden. https://www.thaigov.go.th/uploads/document/66/2019/04/pdf/Doc_20190410114945000000.pdf PM satisfied with higher palm pricing after gov’t measures - https://news.thaivisa.com/article/36564/pm-prayut-satisfied-with-higher-palm-pricing-after-govt-measures PM Prayut happy with rubber price situation - https://news.thaivisa.com/article/35989/pm-prayut-happy-with-rubber-price-situation PM expressed satisfaction with rice prices - http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/WNECO6111040010032 Now the 'economic' sky is falling - after his election as PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 7 hours ago, webfact said: Somkid said that economic growth in the first quarter had fallen to 2.8 per cent, as reported by the National Economic and Social Development Council. He forecast second-quarter growth of 2.8-2.9 per cent. WOW First two 2019 quarters at below 3% makes it most difficult to reach an annual average over 3%. Citibank has just lowered Thailand’s economic growth projection this year from 3.8 to 3.3% Citibank just predicted that the global economy this year could grow 2.9% so Thailand is expected to do almost no better. The BOT just predicted GDP growth of just 3.3% this year. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking recently forecasted GDP growth this year to 2.9%, down from the 3% it estimated earlier this year. An annual 2019 GDP of 2.5% is beginning to look optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 7 hours ago, webfact said: He will also submit a list of projects awaiting approval from the new Cabinet, including Thai Airways International’s plan to procure new aircraft. Better for the Thai government to divest itself of its ownership in Thai Airways while the baht is "hot" and use the proceeds for expansion of Prayut's populist programs. Same might be said of all the government's state-owned enterprises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 7 hours ago, webfact said: Somkid said that economic growth in the first quarter had fallen to 2.8 per cent, as reported by the National Economic and Social Development Council. He forecast second-quarter growth of 2.8-2.9 per cent. GDP growth seems to be trundling along steadily now for two months at around 2.8%. That effectively means the GDP growth for the next two quarters has to average 4% to reach government yearly prediction of 3.4%. How on earth is the average for the first two months of 2.8% suddenly going to jump to an average of 4.0%? for the second two months? Answer...........They are going to fix the drought problems, lend some people some money and lower logistic costs. Shake the head in despair. Is there any hope at all?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Srikcir said: Better for the Thai government to divest itself of its ownership in Thai Airways while the baht is "hot" and use the proceeds for expansion of Prayut's populist programs. Same might be said of all the government's state-owned enterprises. Include the debt ridden State Railways of Thailand (SRT) in that. They have just been hit with a 11.88 billion baht bill (plus interest) for their debacle with Hopewell. That's on top of their 100 billion baht debt and operating losses of about 10 billion baht annually. Who are the highly paid idiots who run these state owned enterprises? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardColeman Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 8 hours ago, webfact said: Somkid said that economic growth in the first quarter had fallen to 2.8 per cent, as reported by the National Economic and Social Development Council. He forecast second-quarter growth of 2.8-2.9 per cent. Maybe i'm pretty stupid but, why would you want to put in stimulus measures if you are running at near 3% growth ? 5% is not bad. Someone's porky pieing it somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeptic7 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 22 hours ago, jerojero said: Tackle the drought. Really? How? Sheesh! Thailand The Rain Maker! Didn't ya know? 555 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehowden Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 I hope this is contagious ! https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-18/bank-of-korea-cuts-key-interest-rate-as-risks-to-economy-grow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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