Farmer plants rice in a paddy field in Thailand's Nakhonsawan province (Photo: Reuters) Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai cabinet on August 20 approved an economic stimuluspackage, worth 316 billion THB (over 10 billion USD), to boost the country’ssluggish economy.
The stimulus package consistsof three main groups of measures: additional allowances to low-income earnersand the elderly, debt moratorium for farmers affected by the drought crisis andefforts to mitigate the impact of the global slowdown on the Thai economy, said Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana.
The Fiscal Policy Office(FPO) of Thailand estimates that GDP growth will get a 0.5-percentage-pointboost from the raft of stimulus measures, bringing the economic growth to 3.5percent this year.
FPO director-general LavaronSangsnit said that without the economic stimulus package, the country’s GDPgrowth would be 3 percent in 2019, compared to last year’s 4.1 percent.
On the same day, the Thai cabinet agreed to extend visa-on-arrival waiverfor visitors from 19 countries til April 2020 to boost tourism. It is part ofthe newly-approved stimulus package.
Thailand’s economy has grown at the slower pace since the 2014 coup. ItsGDP in the second quarter of 2019 rose 2.3 percent from a year ago, down from2.8 percent in the first quarter, the National Economic and Social DevelopmentCouncil (NESDC) announced on August 19.
It was the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2014.–VNA
VNA
