Thai government to launch economic stimulus measures for 3% growth
Although the World Bank has cut Thailand’s economic growth outlook for 2024 to 2.4 per cent, the Thai government would step up stimulus measures to try and achieve 3% growth, Deputy Finance Minister Paophum Rojanasakul said on Wednesday.
Paophum was speaking to reporters shortly after the World Bank announced on Wednesday that it had lowered Thailand’s growth projection to 2.4% this year, down from 2.8% forecast in April, largely due to weaker-than-expected exports and public investment early this year.
Reacting to the latest forecast by the World Bank, Paophum conceded that Thailand was still facing a sluggish economy, hence the government must speed up injection of money into the economic system through investments.
“No matter what, the government would speed up efforts to push growth to reach the target of 3%,” Paophum said.
He assured that the government was not ignoring the poor economic figures.
Among stimulus measures, the government would announce tax measures to boost tourism to second-tier provinces, he said.
He added that the Finance Ministry would next week seek the Cabinet’s approval for another stimulus measure by having the Government Savings Bank offer soft loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Paophum said the digital wallet scheme, which would be implemented in the fourth quarter, would contribute only a little to this year’s growth but it would help increase growth in the first and second quarters of next year.
“While we are waiting for the digital wallet scheme to be implemented, we must have measures to stimulate money circulation in the economy,” Paophum said.
“I’ll propose more measures to the Cabinet within one or two weeks.”
He said loan measures would be considered by the government because they don’t require a high budget for implementation.
Paophum added that the government would also increase its loan guarantee so that SMEs could access more loans.
Paophum said he had also discussed with the State Enterprise Policy Office to push for public-private partnership investments in the development of basic infrastructure in second-tier provinces, which would facilitate tourism in the future.
On Wednesday, Paophum gave a speech on “Unlocking The Growth Potential of Secondary Cities” at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel when he announced the Thailand Economic Monitor report.
During the speech, Paophum said the Finance Ministry had compiled Spatial Economic Fundamental Index (SEFI) and found that while the main cities had an average SEFI of 0.081, secondary cities were at minus 0.046 and the figures reflected a wide economic gap.
