BoT says growth would still be lower than 2.7% in 2014

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BoT says growth would still be lower than 2.7% in 2014
By Digital Content

BANGKOK, May 31 -- Despite positive sign that the economy would improve after the May 22 military coup, a senior official at the Bank of Thailand (BoT) said Friday that economic growth would increase by less than 2.7 per cent in 2014.

Mathee Supapongse, Senior Director of BoT’s Macroeconomic and Monetary Policy Department, said Thailand’s economy has shown positive signs after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) had called a meeting with economy-related agencies, aimed at driving the national economy and to also prepare government expenditures for the 2015 fiscal year, starting on October 1st.

Preparations for the 2015 government budget are expected to be completed within one month.

Also, the government-run Board of Investment (BoI) has set up a special committee responsible for seeking approval for promotional privileges for projects with combined investment of Bt600 billion which would improve investor confidence, said Mr Mathee.

Most importantly, the NCPO has asked the government-run Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to accelerate payments of about Bt90 billion that the former government still owed to farmers who had sold rice to the state under the rice-pledging scheme, he said.

Once the payment was made, more money would be injected into the economic system and help improve the livelihood of farmers and people at the grassroots.

However, economic growth this year is expected to stay at 2.7 per cent as projected by the central bank in March, said Mr Mathee, adding that all these positive factors should bear fruits for the country’s economy in 2015. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2014-05-31