Thai jobless may double without urgent action -PM

Videos
Photos

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-30 17:07

The package will replace a smaller, 100 billion baht plan proposed by the previous government of Somchai Wongsawat, who was forced to step down in early December after a court found his People Power Party guilty of electoral fraud.

Supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra clash with riot police during a protest against the government outside Parliament in Bangkok. Thai lawmakers met at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday to hear the maiden policy speech from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva after anti-government demonstrators blocked access to parliament for a second day. [Agencies]

Abhisit, also an Oxford-educated economist, has said loans would be sought from state banks to shore up commodity prices and help farmers, and money that had not been spent by local governments would be reallocated.

There were few figures in his 35-page speech, but those Abhisit gave suggested funding the extra spending would be tough.

"The outlook for tax and other government revenue in the 2009 fiscal year shows they need to be revised down by 10 percent from earlier estimates," he said. The fiscal year ends on September 30.

Tourism Minister Chumpol Silpa-Archa said last week the government also planned a 15.6 billion baht package to revive the tourist sector, badly hit by a recent week-long airport blockade by activists protesting against the previous government.

Analysts question whether Abhisit's stimulus package can spare the economy from recession, given the uncertainty created by a three-year political crisis and the country's heavy reliance on external trade. Exports amount to over 60 percent of GDP.

Abhisit also said the government would set up a special economic zone covering three provinces in the Muslim south of the country, where more than 3,200 people have died in the past five years in a separatist rebellion.

Previous page 1 2 Next Page