Thailand’s government announced on Tuesday that it had approved additional financial aid to support the economy as rising inflation weighs on an already entrenched crisis.
The Thai government on Tuesday approved a package of measures to support consumption and help the economic recovery.
The Ministry of Finance first announced that a package of 27.4 billion baht (736.1 million euros) had been approved to mitigate the rising cost of living and support consumption. in the face of rising inflation.
This budget will be intended to extend to September and October the co-payment system available in certain businesses called “Khon La Khrueng” and to distribute 200 baht per month to certain categories of people in need.
The extension of “Khon La Khrueng”, which will cost the state 21.2 billion baht, is to benefit 26.5 million people up to 800 baht each, in order to support the purchasing power of consumers, said the ministry said in a statement.
The rest of the envelope will be used to allocate the sum of 400 baht, spread over September and October, to some 13.34 million low-income people who hold social security cards will receive, and 2.23 million people with needs specials, the statement added.
Optimistic economic forecasts
The government estimates that these measures to support the economy should lift GDP by 0.13 percent this year, said ministry spokesman Pornchai Theeravet, who also heads the fiscal policy office.
Thailand’s Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said on Tuesday his ministry was sticking to its economic forecast of 3.5% growth in 2022 and more than 4% next year, banking on tourism picking up following restrictions are lifted. travel sanitary facilities.
Forecasts that seem optimistic to say the least in the current context of global crisis when the Thai economy has been ravaged by more than two years of pandemic and chaotic health policy.
Warning from the czar of the Thai economy
In a speech at a seminar in Songkhla on Tuesday, former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, considered a Thai “economic czar”, said the government must prepare for an economic storm, recalling that the world situation was very volatile and that “the problems were serious and much deeper than many initially thought”.
Headline inflation hit its highest level since 2008 in June, at 7.66%, and the central bank is most likely to raise interest rates next month to contain consumer prices.
The cabinet, which brings together key government ministers, also approved the 80% reduction in the vignette for electric vehicles registered between October 2022 and September 2025, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha told a conference. Press. This should concern more than 128,000 electric vehicles, according to the government.
The local production of electric vehicles will also benefit until 2025 from an exemption from customs duties for parts imported in the manufacture of EVs.
The government has finally approved a 5 billion baht soft loan scheme to help small hotels reopen, a government spokesperson said in a statement.
