Thai govt urged to help SMEs, farmers

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Govt urged to help SMEs, farmers
ERICH PARPART
THE NATION


Supant Mongkolsuthree, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries

BANGKOK: -- REPRESENTATIVES from the |private sector have urged the government to concentrate on helping farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the next six months in order to boost domestic consumption at a time |of export sluggishness, while state and private investment is expected to be more apparent from this quarter on.

The chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, Supant Mongkolsuthree, said the government should urgently assist SMEs, as so many of them face financial troubles due to a lack of liquidity resulting from the economic slowdown that took root last year, and have been unable to get loans.

They desperately require increased access to finance, he said.

He also urged the government to help the country's farmers, who have been devastated by a 50-per-cent drop in crop prices since the beginning of the year.

This should be done via measures to help lower farmers' production costs, he said."Urgent government support in these areas is needed in order to increase the purchasing power of the grass roots and help prolong SMEs' and farmers' survival until the improvement of the economy becomes more apparent in the fourth quarter, from the ongoing increase in public and private investments," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula claimed on Friday that government spending on investment in the first quarter had increased by 5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

He said he expected more public projects of all sizes to be more apparent during the current quarter and the next, which should enable the gross domestic product to expand by more than 3.5 per cent this year.

Tourism is expected |to be rise further, with inbound tourists tipped to reach 28 million this year, up from 26 million or so last year.

A total of Bt1.1 trillion or 42.7 per cent of the Bt2.575-trillion fiscal budget for fiscal 2015 had been disbursed as of the end of February, while disbursement of the regular budget totalled Bt1.01 trillion or |47.5 per cent of the Bt2.125-trillion budget.

However, only Bt80.5 billion or 17.9 per cent of the total Bt449-billion investment budget had been disbursed in the same period.

Pridiyathorn said he expected exports to contract by 4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, mainly because of the economic slowdown in Europe, Japan and China.

That said, the effect on the sector should now lessen as economic stimulus measures in the European Union, Japan and China should boost demand over the rest of the year, he added.

The Commerce Ministry reported last month that Thailand's US$34.48-billion (Bt1.1 trillion) combined export value recorded in the first two months of the year represented a 4.8-per-cent contraction when compared to the same period in 2014.

Many private and public institutions have lowered their beginning-of-the-year economic-growth predictions in light of the bleak export picture.

The Bank of Thailand lowered its already-conservative forecast for the expansion of merchandise exports from 1 per cent to 0.8 per cent currently.

Kasikorn Research Centre, meanwhile, said that lower-than-expected global economic growth and the sharp fall in commodity prices were the main factors behind the sluggish performance in the export sector.

The centre now anticipates a year-on-year export contraction of 3.9 per cent in the first quarter, while predicting zero export growth for the full year - against its earlier prediction of 3.5 per cent.

Other reasons affecting Thai economic growth in first quarter include weak consumer spending and a slowdown in investment by the private sector, said the research house's deputy managing director, Pimonwan Mahujchariyawong.

The president of the Association for the Promotion of Thai Small and Medium Entrepreneurs, Penthip Pornchaded, proposed that the government provide IT support in the rebranding of traditional retail shops, since SMEs operators were finding it hard to introduce their products to modern retailers.

"This is an age-old disparity that needs to be fixed. SMEs do not have the money to promote their products, and it costs a lot just to put their products on the shelves of modern retailers. For example, why do SMEs have to pay double as an entrance fee when they want to put the same product with two flavours on the same shelf?" she said.

Penthip added that her association was in talks with the Commerce Ministry and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion on rebranding and providing e-commerce support for traditional retail shops. She suggested that the government set up a one-stop national retail shop, showcasing products from each of the 77 provinces under the same roof.

This would promote leading Thai products ahead of the launch of the Asean Economic Community at the end of the year, she said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Govt-urged-to-help-SMEs-farmers-30258283.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-20

[BSJ]

Well, he sure is a sharp dresser. Who is he related to?

[Chao Lao Beach]

More one way "loans".

I am curious, is there actually a Thai word for "borrow" that has the intent to pay back as aggreed ?

[ezzra]

The old adage comes to mind... give a man a fish and he's got food for a day, teach a man to fish,

and he's got food for life...

Those SME's and the ever poor farmers need to change their methods and way of going about

making a living that for generations now has been proven to be wrong and flowed,

Teach them how to be better producers by working right and using every possible advantage

there is for them to gain out of it, and not rely on handouts for governments and other donations....

[Pib]

More one way "loans".

I am curious, is there actually a Thai word for "borrow" that has the intent to pay back as aggreed ?

I wonder if there is such a word in the Greek language also.

[mikemac]

More one way "loans".

I am curious, is there actually a Thai word for "borrow" that has the intent to pay back as aggreed ?

Ahhhhhh ..................no.

[LuckyLew]

More access to loans? he has gotta be kidding ... more debts they cannot afford

How about farmers planting crops in demand

as for the other SME .... tough noggies ... running your own business was never a piece of cake

If you have bad product and or bad service you will end up where you deserve to be