Thailand could face a “lost year” if no government formed soon

[webfact]

 

Thailand could face a “lost year” if the country delays the process of forming a new government until May next year, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanawat Pholvichai, the president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

 

“Lost year” is a term coined to refer to a long period of sluggish economic growth and declining investment.

 

Dr. Thanawat said that the time being spent on forming a new government is affecting the economy, especially for next year. If the new government is formed in August, the country should have a new cabinet and the government policy statement by September.

 

He explained that, according to the party’s budget policy, budgeting under the leadership of Pheu Thai can be finalised sooner than under Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period.

 

Waiting for another 10 months to form a new government will gravely affect the economy. People’s confidence in the state of the economy will be lost. When investors have no idea what the country’s policy will be for that long, everything pauses and the economy slows down more and more.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailand-could-face-a-lost-year-if-no-government-formed-soon/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-07-31

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

[stoner]

as a business owner i welcome this wonderful news. from a selfish standpoint of course.

[jacko45k]

To add to the 9  prior ones?

[billd766]

From the OP

 

Quote "He explained that, according to the party’s budget policy, budgeting under the leadership of Pheu Thai can be finalised sooner than under Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period.

 

And this is a bad thing?

[Lucky Bones]

Really? A lost year, as in singular?

Kids have already lost 2+ years.

Schooling from home doesn't wash.

A generation is about to go down the gurgler.

I doubt if Thailand has lost anything.

The status quo has been maintained and the Bloke at the top thinks this is good.

Strange country but I love it.????????

[KannikaP]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

If the new government is formed in August, the country should have a new cabinet and the government policy statement by September.

In UK, and other countries, the Cabinet and Government are in place the DAY AFTER the election. Here?????

[ikke1959]

You can't loose what you don't have.. The past 9 years were a disaster for the country so 1 year more or less can't do so much damage. Thanks to the dinosaurs senators, and the opposition parties who refuse to go forward

[scorecard]

13 minutes ago, billd766 said:

From the OP

 

Quote "He explained that, according to the party’s budget policy, budgeting under the leadership of Pheu Thai can be finalised sooner than under Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period.

 

And this is a bad thing?

To me it's good news ... which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period. 

 

Years back I took over the regional director position of a major manufacting and markting company regional operation, several Asian countries.

 

Quickly I noticed payments going out to all sorts of recipients, in Thailand and in Indonesia.

 

I asked the Thai Acct. to explain what was in place.

 

She was so proud the 'system' she had invented (and copied by our Jakarta acct.) meant that support items under 100,000Baht did not need the directors signature. This had been all approved by a previous director who had a poor performance record.

 

I decided to 'kill many birds' with one stone:

 

- I set a date for outgoing payments review, all snr. managers must attend, no excuses for non attendance.

- I told the accountant to list all the payments for all suppliers etc for the last 6 months.

- We started the meeting and I indicated I wanted comments from all on every payment :

-- Was it directly connected to creating value?

-- Was it directly connected to turning value into revenue?

-- Was it a critical support expense?

 

There were many arguments to categorize the firrt 4 or 5 items (payments already made on the list), plus I deliberately confused the argument by saying:

--- Why are we using an outside provider, we have a specific dept., already in place for this item and their modern resources seem to be well underused, or

--- When was the last time the supply chain team did a search for an alternative supplier, good quality, lower price?

 

After half a day I instructed the Marketing diector to continue the 'review' until t was completed.

 

Then I sat at the back of the room and took notes. WHy because I was checking whether the snr. managers in the room were satisfactory. Ultimately I ordered immediate early retirement fo 20% of the snr. managers and I deliberately replaced them with rexperienced people from outside the company and gave each new snr. 60 days to share a detailed review how they were managing their department: what they had changed and why (and I encouraged change), and what hey had not changed and why.

 

Before I left the room at the end of the day I announced 'From today no payments can be processed without my signature'.

 

Within 90 days our expenditure totals went down 35%.

 

[sammieuk1]

Fear not the Baht is busy bucking any negativity in the usual unbelievable fashion ????  

[StayinThailand2much]

A "lost year" for Thailand thanks to politics? Add it to the decades already lost...

[KhunLA]

Don't think anyone will miss it, especially missing the appointed senators in the end.

[tomacht8]

....Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period...

 

To me, as a taxpayer in Thailand, that sounds right.

 

How are the others doing it? Simply reach into the tax fund and make expenses that are neither checked nor necessary? That this is even possible; I could puke.

[herfiehandbag]

8 hours ago, KannikaP said:

In UK, and other countries, the Cabinet and Government are in place the DAY AFTER the election. Here?????

Typically in the UK the General Election is held on a Thursday, Prime Minister appointed by sovereign on Friday early afternoon, cabinet appointed over the weekend and new government in place and up and running by Tuesday

[Robert Tyrrell]

Good morning,

 

This is the fault corrupt Thai Politics and current government !! The Thai people choose there leader by majority vote and your robbing them of there voice and choice ,

ABSOLUTELY SHAMEFUL !!!  

[soalbundy]

8 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Typically in the UK the General Election is held on a Thursday, Prime Minister appointed by sovereign on Friday early afternoon, cabinet appointed over the weekend and new government in place and up and running by Tuesday

5 prime ministers in 6 years, I don't think the UK should be used as an example.

[jacko45k]

10 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

5 prime ministers in 6 years, I don't think the UK should be used as an example.

Yes, Thailand only took 9 years and counting.

UK different system....... 

[Villapete]

8 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Typically in the UK the General Election is held on a Thursday, Prime Minister appointed by sovereign on Friday early afternoon, cabinet appointed over the weekend and new government in place and up and running by Tuesday

In the UK the shortest 'political' distance between 2 points is a straight line, but it went through a long and painful journey to get there; civil war, protests, strikes, an so on. If the Thai people want the same I think they are just going to have to do a lot more than they are now to get it. Unfortunately, I don't think this will happen. Sad as it is, no one wants to send their kids in defenceless against live ammunition which, if push comes to shove, is highly probable, Unfortuately, Thailand in nestled in a region where abuse of liberties, freedoms and people are common (Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao...). The big players on the world stage make the right noises about democracy whilst at the same time selling military hardware to these states; therefore, I think the Thai people are on their own with it. It is now just a matter of how much they want it. I don't think it will change much, and that is not a criticism of Thais, I just think at the end of the day, they will have to pay a high price for a western style democracy. 

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand could face a “lost year” if the country delays the process of forming a new government until May next year, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanawat Pholvichai, the president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

The MP's and senate just burnt a golden opportunity to take Thailand forward with a younger progressive thinking party and PM..

But as we all know the dinosaurs like it as it is as it benefits them most.

[kcpattaya]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

a zero-based budgeting policy

Isn't that the same when the Junta took over?

[glegolo18]

18 hours ago, stoner said:

as a business owner i welcome this wonderful news. from a selfish standpoint of course.

"lost year", for who? Yes for the "new ones", being unable to cut their winnings out of corruption. But maybe a winning year for Thailand????

[RichardColeman]

I guess they felt the headline 'Thailand could face another year of military rule by the good old boys' had been used too much

[spidermike007]

Let us refer to the lost year as a continuation of the Prayuth Decimation. The people do not deserve this. The government thieves and cons do richly deserve this, for denying the will of the people. 

[bradiston]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Thailand could face a “lost year” if the country delays the process of forming a new government until May next year, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanawat Pholvichai, the president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

 

“Lost year” is a term coined to refer to a long period of sluggish economic growth and declining investment.

 

Dr. Thanawat said that the time being spent on forming a new government is affecting the economy, especially for next year. If the new government is formed in August, the country should have a new cabinet and the government policy statement by September.

 

He explained that, according to the party’s budget policy, budgeting under the leadership of Pheu Thai can be finalised sooner than under Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period.

 

Waiting for another 10 months to form a new government will gravely affect the economy. People’s confidence in the state of the economy will be lost. When investors have no idea what the country’s policy will be for that long, everything pauses and the economy slows down more and more.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailand-could-face-a-lost-year-if-no-government-formed-soon/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-07-31

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

Interesting link. Opposition to amending Section 112 and the collapse of the Thai economy. Unforseen consequences play havoc.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Villapete said:

The big players on the world stage make the right noises about democracy whilst at the same time selling military hardware to these states

Do you actually know where the military hardware is sourced from? I doubt very much that it comes from democratic states. In this region, it's likely to be from China and Russia.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

The MP's and senate just burnt a golden opportunity to take Thailand forward with a younger progressive thinking party and PM..

But as we all know the dinosaurs like it as it is as it benefits them most.

And anything, ethical or otherwise, which keeps the military close to the pulse and in control. The military feels entitled to such situation and feeld entitled to 'run' the country.

[kennw]

20 hours ago, billd766 said:

From the OP

 

Quote "He explained that, according to the party’s budget policy, budgeting under the leadership of Pheu Thai can be finalised sooner than under Move Forward, which has a zero-based budgeting policy, which requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period.

 

And this is a bad thing?

No wonder they dont want MFP. A budget that "justifies where the budget money will be spent" no way ! how can there be leakages.

[BigFun]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

5 prime ministers in 6 years, I don't think the UK should be used as an example.

That's why we're so good at it. Practice, practice, practice.

[BigFun]

6 minutes ago, kennw said:

No wonder they dont want MFP. A budget that "justifies where the budget money will be spent" no way ! how can there be leakages.

Tip of the iceberg. In his CNN interview he put it in a nutshell - de-monopolise, de-centralise, de-militarise (government). That's a lot of free meal tickets. 

[IamNoone88]

I would argue there has already been lost decade.

[Rachel2023]

Years ago, Belgium had remained over a year without having the new government formed.

As I heard: it was one of Belgium's most beneficial year, economically speaking...