UTCC calls for tourism stimulus, swift budget disbursement to boost GDP growth 

By The Nation

 

Thanawat Ponwichai (in Middle of the Frame)

 

Thailand’s economy is expected to expand by just 0.5 – 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, representing a decline of Bt10 billion year on year which may derail the GDP growth forecast of 1 - 1.5 per cent for the first three months, said Thanawat Ponwichai, director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC). 

 

Given the expectation that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis would subside in March or April, the government should start stimulating tourism and speed up disbursement of the national budget to boost growth of gross domestic product (GDP).

 

The survey showed that consumer confidence index in January 2020 stood at 45.4 points, down 0.3 points from December 2019.

 

Agriculture, consumption and trading were hit badly, partly due to a 1.28 per cent drop in export in December 2019. The SET Index fell 65.70 points, from 1,579.84 to 1,514.14 in January 2020 amid the baht's depreciation and delay of the national budget bill.

 

PM2.5 pollution, Covid-19 outbreak and severe drought were other negative factors dampening economic growth while positive ones included low interest rate and oil price. But most important was that people still had no confidence in this government, Thanawat said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30382080

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-13

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7 hours ago, webfact said:

But most important was that people still had no confidence in this government, Thanawat said.

Well at at last, somebody has the balls to hit the nail on the head.

There Isnt ANYTHING thats going to help tourism this year. The pandemic has guaranteed that. Be better to start and implement a HUGE stimulus package on infrastructure and training while it has the chance and time. Get those people in tourism back to work, retrain and invest in the country for the future return of Tourists in a couple of years. Thailand has made a HUGE fortune on the back of tourism, time to spend on renovating and cleaning its neglected industry and destinations up while theres a downturn... the country has turned into a dirty uncared for joke, spend now  and deal with it.

 

Dont waste the time crying on whats already occurred or trying to fix what cant be, use that HUGE national savings war chest and INVEST in the countries future. It will pay dividends back tenfold.If these greedy idiots just took this time and saw it as an opportunity and used the time and invested instead of trying to suck what little more it can from whats already broken they might get somewhere... 

 

Of course with an uneducated and corrupt leadership without vision or care thats unlikely to happen and  Thailand will most likely slip further into crisis. It dosnt have to be that way but given the track record and gov probably will be.. 

Edited February 13, 20206 yr by englishoak

Amazing place they say many times tourism is a small % of the GDP. But daily news is full on as they look for a rescue mission now tourism is dead. There is no other source of income to be managed?

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s economy is expected to expand by just 0.5 – 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, representing a decline of Bt10 billion year on year which may derail the GDP growth forecast of 1 - 1.5 per cent for the first three months

Recently BOT expected GDP growth of 2.5% for 2019, which was the country's weakest pace since 2014 when Prayut's military coup took power - considerably worse than Malaysia and Indonesia.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-01/coronavirus-thailand-s-economy-likely-to-face-recession

Then days later the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking revised the GDP growth this year to 2-2.5% : https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30381628

 

Now for 2020Q1 the forecast is 1-1.5%?

Thailand is becoming the ASEAN Hub of Recession.

 

If only the Thai government made things easier for ex-pat retirees who live in Thailand through low season and high, who spend on an individual basis more than any vacationing tourist. Retirees should be appreciated and recruited, to not made to jump through ridiculous hoops that serve no purposes. 

Going down the crapper! incompetence and relying on Chinese for its growth  shows its failure