Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak (Photo: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) - Agriculture, tourism and state spending will be driving forces to rebooting the Thai economy in the second half of 2020, said Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.
The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is implementing a programme to bring technology to assist local communities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the farm sector, he said.
The BAAC wants to help 100,000 local communities and 10,000 SMEs nationwide each year, he added.
Somkid said the government expects to allow domestic tourism in provinces with no COVID-19 cases by the third quarter to help tourism-related businesses.
The government's plan to splash 1 trillion baht (over 31 billion USD), especially 400 billion baht slated for economic and social rehabilitation through projects aimed at creating jobs, strengthening communities and building infrastructure, will also help stimulate the local economy in the remainder of the year, he added.
Thailand’s GDP in the first quarter of 2020 fell by 1.8 percent year-on-year after growth of 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter last year. This was the first contraction since 2014.
The dismal results prompted the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) to cut its economic forecast to a contraction of 5-6 percent this year, down from the 1.5-2.5 percent growth projection issued in February./.
VNA
