Srettha vows to revive economy and ensure greater well-being of farmers
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Thursday vowed to revive the economy with a variety of measures and improve the well-being of farmers as well as eliminate loan sharks from Thai society.
Srettha was speaking on “Future Ready Thailand” during the Standard Economic Forum held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre on Thursday.
The PM said that Thailand had lost a lot of economic opportunities during the past decades due to political rifts.
He said his Pheu Thai government was now bent on bringing Thailand back to prominence in the international arena by competing with neighbouring countries to woo international investors.
Srettha said he had recently visited several countries to invite their businesses to invest in the kingdom by offering tax incentives and by assuring them that Thailand had the potential to be their production base.
Srettha added last week that he had instructed Thai ambassadors and commerce attaches to work proactively to sell Thailand’s strong points and products in the countries where they are stationed.
The Thai envoys would also reach out to foreign investors to invest in Thailand and help boost foreign arrivals, Srettha said.
On the issue of loan sharks preying on low-income people, Srettha said the issue has been troubling Thai society for a long time.
He said the worries over debt to loan sharks affected the productivity of low-income people and eventually drove them to commit crimes.
He said the issue would be placed on the national agenda and he would announce measures to deal with debt to loan sharks on November 28, Srettha said.
He added that measures would be announced for dealing with the debt of Thai people to banks and financial institutions on December 12.
On the measures to help farmers, Srettha said his government would crack down on pork smuggling, which was hurting pig farmers.
He said his government would also work hard to ensure a three-fold increase in the income of farmers during its four-year term in office.
By the middle of February, his government would announce measures for water resources management and ways to boost farmers’ income.
He said the first year of his office might not bring about outstanding achievements but his government was bent on reviving the sluggish economy.
The plan to hand out 10,000 baht to eligible recipients aged 16 years and above would be among the economic stimulus measures.
He said the government initially had not planned to borrow 500 billion baht to finance the digital wallet scheme, but it wanted the project to have transparency and that is why it decided to enact a bill to borrow money for the scheme.
