Coup played part in stagnant economy, says Abhisit

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Coup played part in stagnant economy, says Abhisit

 

The stagnant economy was partly due to the coup as it affected the decision of investors who wanted to see certainty, said former prime minister and leader of the Democrat Party Abhisit Vejjajiva.

 

Several trade negotiations could not take place under the current regime either, he said.

 

However, the former PM also said the global economy was also an important factor. Uncertainty in the policies of trade partner nations also resulted in the country’s ailing economy, he said.

 

Most importantly, the people’s incomes were hit, Abhisit said. 

 

Government assistance was mostly in measures that were unsustainable, preventing the economy from recovering, he said.

 

The junta-initiated Pracharat policy aimed at sustainably boosting the economy was limited, he said. However, he said, most of the people taking part in the scheme were successful businessmen who gave a big-business perspective and lacked understanding of smaller entrepreneurs.

 

SME people, agriculturists, and freelancers played too small a part in directing the scheme, he said.

 

Abhisit also expressed concern for the people in rural areas who are still suffering from the slow economy.

 

The Democrat leader urged the government to create a welfare scheme to assist these people rather than non-permanent measures.

 

The temporary measures, which depended on decisions made by the powers-that-be, could be turned into another populist scheme, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30312280

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-04-14

[darksidedog]

He's not far off the money there in some ways. Obviously International investors get nervous when a democratically elected Government is taken over by the army.

He says Government assistance was unsustainable. I though, prefer incomplete and incompetent.

He encourages a permanent welfare scheme. Marvelous rhetoric. He didn't do it when in power, and he won't if he gets back in. It WOULD be nice to have though.

Typical politician speak. 2 parts truth, 2 parts lies and 3 parts propaganda. Less lies told than many speeches I could mention though.

[Becker]

Coup played part in stagnant economy, says Abhisit

 

Who knew!?

[fforest1]

Who really wants to invest in a country with a military government

that can use section 44 to change any law or regulation at any time

for any reason...

 

Section 44 is also a albatross around the neck of the condo

market in Thailand,were visia rules change about as often as

the wind...

 

Anyone interested in starting a gold mining operation in Thailand?

 

Edited April 14, 2017 by fforest1

[gk10002000]

59 minutes ago, Becker said:

Coup played part in stagnant economy, says Abhisit

 

Who knew!?

he he. yeah.  As if turmoil, throwing out constitutions and laws and neutering the civilian courts as they cow tow to the coup leaders is attractive to a lot of foreign investors.  Sadly, when things get dicey, you may still get investors, but they may not be the types of investors you want as neighbors, crooked types, bribe paying types, etc.   Only stable as long as bribes and kickbacks work

[Chris Lawrence]

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail". Benjamin Franklin

 

Abhisit  must win the party's Einstein award for stating the obvious. Always ready to go on stage, but seems to lack objectivity to what he talks about.
 

[nong38]

I thought Abihist sounded and looked the part for Thailand, unfortunately you dont know who was behind him with the power, the power not to let him do what he wanted to. Too many vested interests  who think they are number one and the country number two and that is a difficult mind set to change, esp in this part of the world.

Edited April 14, 2017 by nong38
missing word

[3NUMBAS]

Junta is a red flag to a bull...

[yellowboat]

3 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The Democrat leader urged the government to create a welfare scheme to assist these people rather than non-permanent measures.

If the government would just get out of the way.  Put the country before silly nationalistic tendencies.  Not muzzle the press.  Allow foreign investment especially in the rural areas.  Things could get better on their own. 

[baboon]

Sorry, why has he not been arrested for engaging in political activities? 

Was this a gathering of more than five people?

[dbrenn]

What a disgraceful charlatan this man is. He caused the coup in the first place. 

[wakeupplease]

Abhisit Vejjajiva. I will get banned again for this on TV but to those who read it, before removal lets have the truth once and for all.

 

You Abhisit Vejjajiva where born in the UK and a UK - thai citizen, therefore can run anytime you wish to escaped the local repression? You with you family's money had the best education. Eton College and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oxford. Then elected to the Parliament of Thailand at the age of 27, then promoted to Democrat Party leader in 2005, after after your predecessor resigned following the party's defeat in the 2005 general election??????.

 

Abhisit was appointed prime minister of Thailand on 17 December 2008, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand removed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat (Mill court)  from office. Abhisit became premier at a time of global economic turmoil and rising domestic political tensions. 

 

As prime minister ?????, he promoted a "People's Agenda," which focused primarily on policies affecting the living conditions of Thailand's rural and working class citizens. (Bull Whats the word) He administered two economic stimulus packages: a US$40 billion, three-year infrastructure improvement plan, and a more than US$3 billion program of cash subsidies and handouts, a bit very much very much like Yingluck Shinawatra as per what you would expect to help farmers in civilized country's.

 

Abhisit's government faced major protests in April 2009 and April–May 2010. The military's crackdowns on protesters left many dead.

 

Abhisitt you let your countrymen down. You also took the piss out of my county who fraught two world wars for Freedom you have savored. So get off your ever increasing fat ass and fight for you own people and do not insult my people or country anymore.

 

If you do not "magpies" will do to you as you are doing to our fellow planet friends.

 

Abihisit you know how hard we are here, you have no balls until you show us your UK education  delivers.

 

We now about 2010. You are scum in the UK until you revel the truth of 2010 and before.

 

Wake Up Please my man, as you know magpies hate lies.

 

You are sum liar until yo do in UK eyes, Boris your mate will drop you so quickj if the Sh>> hits the fan. now I will be banned. moving on, but Keep well guys.

 

Wake up Please has no connection with Abhisit Vejjajiva or Yingluck Shinawatra, we live in the free world thank god

 

Edited April 14, 2017 by wakeupplease

[Thailand]

Needs a Thaksin type of businessman to get this country back on it's feet again but with the the military having closed almost every door to a democratic process and election that is is a long way off.

I guess as the elites start to hurt in their pockets their is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

[robblok]

3 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

Abhisit Vejjajiva. I will get banned again for this on TV but to those who read it, before removal lets have the truth once and for all.

 

You Abhisit Vejjajiva where born in the UK and a UK - thai citizen, therefore can run anytime you wish to escaped the local repression? You with you family's money had the best education. Eton College and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oxford. Then elected to the Parliament of Thailand at the age of 27, then promoted to Democrat Party leader in 2005, after after your predecessor resigned following the party's defeat in the 2005 general election??????.

 

Abhisit was appointed prime minister of Thailand on 17 December 2008, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand removed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat (Mill court)  from office. Abhisit became premier at a time of global economic turmoil and rising domestic political tensions. 

 

As prime minister ?????, he promoted a "People's Agenda," which focused primarily on policies affecting the living conditions of Thailand's rural and working class citizens. (Bull Whats the word) He administered two economic stimulus packages: a US$40 billion, three-year infrastructure improvement plan, and a more than US$3 billion program of cash subsidies and handouts, a bit very much very much like Yingluck Shinawatra as per what you would expect to help farmers in civilized country's.

 

Abhisit's government faced major protests in April 2009 and April–May 2010. The military's crackdowns on protesters left many dead.

 

Abhisitt you let your countrymen down. You also took the piss out of my county who fraught two world wars for Freedom you have savored. So get off your ever increasing fat ass and fight for you own people and do not insult my people or country anymore.

 

If you do not "magpies" will do to you as you are doing to our fellow planet friends.

 

Abihisit you know how hard we are here, you have no balls until you show us your UK education  delivers.

 

We now about 2010. You are scum in the UK until you revel the truth of 2010 and before.

 

Wake Up Please my man, as you know magpies hate lies.

 

You are sum liar until yo do in UK eyes, Boris your mate will drop you so quickj if the Sh>> hits the fan. now I will be banned. moving on, but Keep well guys.

 

Wake up Please has no connection with Abhisit Vejjajiva or Yingluck Shinawatra, we live in the free world thank god

 

That is your vision.. thankfully many don't agree with it and see YL and hers as the problem. 

 

Thank god we live in a free world where we can decide what we think. 

[robblok]

4 hours ago, dbrenn said:

What a disgraceful charlatan this man is. He caused the coup in the first place. 

You mean the one caused by Thaksin his amnesty.. oooopss.. cant blame dear leader cant we.

[robblok]

13 hours ago, darksidedog said:

He's not far off the money there in some ways. Obviously International investors get nervous when a democratically elected Government is taken over by the army.

He says Government assistance was unsustainable. I though, prefer incomplete and incompetent.

He encourages a permanent welfare scheme. Marvelous rhetoric. He didn't do it when in power, and he won't if he gets back in. It WOULD be nice to have though.

Typical politician speak. 2 parts truth, 2 parts lies and 3 parts propaganda. Less lies told than many speeches I could mention though.

Problem is who is going to pay for permanent welfare and who is going to check if people are not defrauding.. that is hard enough in countries where we can track income streams easy.. impossible in  Thailand where you can move your assets around and put them in name of your gardener. 

 

Its a nice thought.. welfare.. but far to expensive and not to mention the opportunities for fraud. Maybe they should charge the farang pensioners to pay for this scheme.. wonder how many would still support it then. Its always easy to think of schemes.. a lot harder to finance them..the ones paying for it are never happy about it (with good reason). The tax base in Thailand is not big enough for this. Maybe if they spend less on the farmers and the army it could be done. 

[ChrisY1]

Really, Abhisit is just saying what everyone knows....he simply feels that he needs to be in the media

[darksidedog]

10 minutes ago, robblok said:

Problem is who is going to pay for permanent welfare and who is going to check if people are not defrauding.. that is hard enough in countries where we can track income streams easy.. impossible in  Thailand where you can move your assets around and put them in name of your gardener. 

 

Its a nice thought.. welfare.. but far to expensive and not to mention the opportunities for fraud. Maybe they should charge the farang pensioners to pay for this scheme.. wonder how many would still support it then. Its always easy to think of schemes.. a lot harder to finance them..the ones paying for it are never happy about it (with good reason). The tax base in Thailand is not big enough for this. Maybe if they spend less on the farmers and the army it could be done. 

Scrapping the submarine order would provide the first $2 Billion.

However, you are correct. Welfare in Thailand in the way we understand it, is unlikely.

 

[robblok]

Just now, darksidedog said:

Scrapping the submarine order would provide the first $2 Billion.

However, you are correct. Welfare in Thailand in the way we understand it, is unlikely.

 

Those subs are a stupid idea.. and should be scrapped.. surface ships to check for illegal fishing is a far beter use of the money. The army as such gets too much money.. but so do the farmers (its a bottomless pit and without reform will stay that way and unfair to non farmers that they get all the assistance but as they are a power block that keeps the PTP in power its unlikely that they will reform)

 

With money from those two parties a lot of good could be done. But still its unlikely as it would cost so much and the likely hood for fraud is just so big.

[phutoie2]

25 minutes ago, robblok said:

That is your vision.. thankfully many don't agree with it and see YL and hers as the problem. 

 

Thank god we live in a free world where we can decide what we think. 

Correction - thankfully many farang don't agree and more thanks that folk like you do not have any influence here. 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Thailand don't need a UK or European base welfare system, it breeds laziness. It needs to provide a world class education to its people, provide subsidised medical services, create a justice system that treats all equally, bring the military and civil service under control and route out corruption. The problem is however that the military don't give the democratic process time to work. When Thaksin was ousted by a coup it started a never ending conflict. If those who conducted the coup allowed the democracy process to work we would have been rid of TS by now. But due to the coups we will never be rid of TS's legacy. Thai's are very impatient people and it is reflected in their politics (and driving). As for farming and subsidies, there are very few countries which don't subsidise their farmers, but it must be sustainable and the money must go to the farmers not the middlemen. What the farming sector needs is education and an extension service that can train existing farmers to become more educated/productive and take better care of the environment. There is a desperate need to modernize the irrigation systems and build new systems. It is estimated that +- 30% of Thailand irrigation water is lost due to broken canals and pipes. The other issue is land ownership, there are huge areas that is farmed under non chanotte titles which inhibit capital expenditure on this land. The lack of capital expenditure in turn decrease productivity. By granting users permanent land rights many rai's will be developed into more productive farms. By implementing these measures the income of farmers will increase and the need for subsidies will decrease. As for Robblok's comment, some people use their gardeners to hide assets, I say others use their parents and siblings to hide assets (B680 million to be exact).

[robblok]

7 minutes ago, phutoie2 said:

Correction - thankfully many farang don't agree and more thanks that folk like you do not have any influence here. 

to add..Thankfully folks like you have no influence either.. and its not only farangs that agree with me also many Thais. You seem to have forgotten the street protests against YL... showed that many agreed that she had to go because of that stupid amnesty to the convicted criminal from Dubai. 

 

 

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

Thailand don't need a UK or European base welfare system, it breeds laziness. It needs to provide a world class education to its people, provide subsidised medical services, create a justice system that treats all equally, bring the military and civil service under control and route out corruption. The problem is however that the military don't give the democratic process time to work. When Thaksin was ousted by a coup it started a never ending conflict. If those who conducted the coup allowed the democracy process to work we would have been rid of TS by now. But due to the coups we will never be rid of TS's legacy. Thai's are very impatient people and it is reflected in their politics (and driving). As for farming and subsidies, there are very few countries which don't subsidise their farmers, but it must be sustainable and the money must go to the farmers not the middlemen. What the farming sector needs is education and an extension service that can train existing farmers to become more educated/productive and take better care of the environment. There is a desperate need to modernize the irrigation systems and build new systems. It is estimated that +- 30% of Thailand irrigation water is lost due to broken canals and pipes. The other issue is land ownership, there are huge areas that is farmed under non chanotte titles which inhibit capital expenditure on this land. The lack of capital expenditure in turn decrease productivity. By granting users permanent land rights many rai's will be developed into more productive farms. By implementing these measures the income of farmers will increase and the need for subsidies will decrease. As for Robblok's comment, some people use their gardeners to hide assets, I say others use their parents and siblings to hide assets (B680 million to be exact).

Yes farming faces many problems but the farmers are to set in their ways and protests if they don't get money. They don't want to change its easier to do what they always did and get money. The PTP likes it this way because if the farmers don't need help they lose a voting block.

 

Vietnam and other countries outproduce Thailand per rai .. they adapt and change.. Thai farmers don't (with exceptions)

 

I agree about giving education and a means to make money instead of having people dependent on handouts from the government. But there will always be a few that need handouts. The problem is that there is always so much fraud in systems like that and that irks many people who do work and pay for those systems. 

[teddog]

Two part country  ,those in Bangkok..those in Issan..never the twain to meet. just stop dishing out the govt bonds that keeps the Baht strong and drop the 100% tax on imported food,or other countries reciprocate it on Thailand

 

Entering a free trade agreement with India,is suicidal,will gobble Thailand up in a moment

Edited April 15, 2017 by teddog

[yardrunner]

2 hours ago, robblok said:

The tax base in Thailand is not big enough for this. Maybe if they spend less on the farmers and the army it could be done. 

if they spend less on the  army it could be done. because the army does very little to defend the country but plenty to oppress the citizens, as for the farmers, they are the backbone of the country and economy

[JAG]

4 hours ago, Thailand said:

Needs a Thaksin type of businessman to get this country back on it's feet again but with the the military having closed almost every door to a democratic process and election that is is a long way off.

I guess as the elites start to hurt in their pockets their is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

I regret that the light will probably come from the fires started by the disenfranchised and increasingly marginalized rural (poorer) people. They will be hurt long hard and continuously before "the elites" feel it. 

 

By the time the light reaches "the elites" it will be too late, they will have to run.

[robblok]

11 minutes ago, yardrunner said:

if they spend less on the  army it could be done. because the army does very little to defend the country but plenty to oppress the citizens, as for the farmers, they are the backbone of the country and economy

Farmers are NOT the backbone of the economy, and are NOT willing to change their ways and are producing far less rice per rai as Vietnam and other countries. They refuse to change and only want handouts. I am all for helping the farmers.. but only if they change. Its stupid to support unsound businesses without any change. 

[elgordo38]

Sounds like a pre election speech if I ever heard one. Seems the junta have informally started the one horse race. No worries about jockeying for position everybody else is still at the starting gate. 

[elgordo38]

15 hours ago, Chris Lawrence said:

Always ready to go on stage, but seems to lack objectivity to what he talks about.
 

Its called trying to be all things to all people syndrome. He seems to be bolting out of the election starting gate with guess who's blessing. 

[brucec64]

This was predicted in 2014 in an Economist article.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/10/thailands-economy

The article predicted that loss of investment and gdp growth would cost Thailand 20 to 30 billion usd over 3 years. So far, the article has been spot on. The coup cost much more than even the inflated estimates of the cost of the rice scheme.

Good job junta!

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