Thailand: State readies fresh stimulus

• The government vows to continue introducing additional measures to improve the economy in 1Q20 and 2Q20. Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said fresh measures include a higher budget for Village Funds, soft loans for water resource development and a new phase of the Taste-Shop-Spend stimulus scheme. He said the economy’s growth in 4Q20 may not have reached the 2% as expected.
• The National Economic and Social Development Council is scheduled to unveil the GDP reading for 4Q20 and a revised outlook for 2020 on 17 Feb 20.
• According to Mr Somkid, additional funding for Village Funds will be channelled through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and Government Savings Bank. The new funding is in addition to the THB99bn the government had budgeted in Jan 20 for Village Funds to beef up the local economy.
• The THB99bn includes THB14bn for projects and THB75bn in debt suspension for members of the National Village and Community Fund.
• There are 79,585 Village Funds with 13 million members. The office expects 1.5 million members to ask for the debt suspension programme.
• More details about the new funding to the Village Funds were not disclosed, with Mr Somkid saying only that the injection of additional budget will help boost the Thai economy and create jobs.
• He said the Village Funds should invest more in projects such as reservoirs, small dams, community tourism spots, rice mills and machinery to process farm products.

External Link : https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1856374/state-readies-fresh-stimulus