Thailand to introduce $1.3 billion job support for smaller firms

FILE PHOTO: People wear face masks amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand, April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Soe Zeya/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand plans to introduce an estimated 45.4 billion baht ($1.34 billion) in stimulus to help smaller businesses retain jobs, its planning agency said on Thursday, as the tourism-dependent country deals with a prolonged coronavirus outbreak.

The government will pay firms a total of 9,000 baht ($266) for each worker over a three-month period from November, aiming to retain 5.04 million jobs, the agency said after a national economic task force meeting chaired by the prime minister.

The support will be for about 480,000 companies employing up to 200 Thai workers, which must retain at least 95% of employees, the planning agency said.

It also said the government was aiming to draw 1 million foreign tourists during the final quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of next year, with spending of at least 60 billion baht.

Thailand will soon reopen to more vaccinated arrivals, waiving a longstanding quarantine requirement, in a bid to revive tourism, an industry that typically accounts for 11-12% of gross domestic product and employs about 20% of the nation's workforce.

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Martin Petty)