Govt's economic measures 'will prop economy up short-term'

[webfact]

Govt's economic measures 'will prop economy up short-term'

By The Nation

 

Lawaron Sangsanit

 

Thai economic measures would be able to handle the economy during the Covid-19 outbreak until the end of April, Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) director Lawaron Sangsanit said.

 

The director said that the measures issued by the Cabinet on March 10 would support all sectors and offer entrepreneurs a soft loan limit at Bt150 billion and interest at 2 per cent which is the lowest rate.

 

Loan extension would not be over Bt20 million to distribute to all entrepreneurs while they would also receive a three-time tax deduction from employment. Withholding tax rate has been lowered from 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent to subsidise entrepreneurs.

 

He said the government had prepared Bt20 billion so that several ministries could propose projects to reduce business shutdowns, support workers without welfare and increase working skills for entrepreneurs.

 

Suphan Mongkolsuthee, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, added that the measures were a short-term solution while a long-term solution would require the government’s support for tourism, restaurants and airlines.

 

However, the government needed to tackle the virus outbreak to find more proper measures, he said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30383909

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-03-12

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[Grumpy John]

150 billion baht spread over several thousand companies isn't a lot of money but it may help.  I am just a bit dubious about the 2% interest.  At zero interest there would be widespread uptake but at 2%...I am not so sure. 

[Redline]

So far, the only country I see doing it right longer term is Singapore 

[ozz1]

Yes he wants to support tourism and then we have the health minister saying watch out for the dirty farangs spreading the virus it will only hurt tourism i don't think tourists will come back with that attitude maybe Chinese

[CGW]

21 minutes ago, Redline said:

So far, the only country I see doing it right longer term is Singapore 

While I agree, its also a lot easier for them, they have a country that is half the size of Bangkok.

[drguid]

26 minutes ago, ozz1 said:

Yes he wants to support tourism and then we have the health minister saying watch out for the dirty farangs spreading the virus it will only hurt tourism i don't think tourists will come back with that attitude maybe Chinese

Definitely a case of be careful of what you wish for. Now farangs can't get travel insurance for covid-19 and in some cases can't get travel insurance at all. This year and next I can't see any Brits wanting to travel beyond Europe.

[Redline]

10 hours ago, CGW said:

While I agree, its also a lot easier for them, they have a country that is half the size of Bangkok.

And great coordination and communication.

 

The USA had that until trump disbanded the section of the National Security Council responsible for this exact scenario 

[CGW]

8 hours ago, Redline said:

And great coordination and communication.

 

The USA had that until trump disbanded the section of the National Security Council responsible for this exact scenario 

When you have an established dictatorship, as Singapore does, communication is easy, they control everything.

 

As a non American it gets boring having to read the constant bickering & moaning about Trump ???? 

[Redline]

7 hours ago, CGW said:

When you have an established dictatorship, as Singapore does, communication is easy, they control everything.

 

As a non American it gets boring having to read the constant bickering & moaning about Trump ???? 

Well, he’s a f*** up, and since when is Singapore a dictatorship ????

[CGW]

22 minutes ago, Redline said:

since when is Singapore a dictatorship

Since August 9th 1965, where have you been ????

[Brigand]

Seems that every week they are pulling some kind of give away/stimulus/free gimmick that always costs billions of baht on top of the normal stuff out their backsides. Where the hell are they getting all this money from? Vat rate of 7% and most Thais being too poor, or too rich, to pay income tax then sometimes I'm a little cynical on this front. Maybe dipping into the foreign currency reserves, I guess.

[Redline]

6 hours ago, CGW said:

Since August 9th 1965, where have you been ????

Singapore has a multi-party parliamentary system of representative democracy in which the President of Singapore is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government. Executive power is vested in the President and the Cabinet.
 

I know, next you will tell me China is a democracy 

[CGW]

4 minutes ago, Redline said:

I know, next you will tell me China is a democracy 

I have no interest in what you believe to be honest, you obviously don't know Singapore.

Here"s one article, if you want to understand the truth you can research further, up to you ???? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictatorship

[URMySunshine]

12 minutes ago, Redline said:

Singapore has a multi-party parliamentary system of representative democracy in which the President of Singapore is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government. Executive power is vested in the President and the Cabinet.
 

I know, next you will tell me China is a democracy 

If people keep voting for a dictator then that's what they get  !