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Roundup: One-billion-dollar measures launched to stimulate Thai economy

Xinhua, September 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Thailand will inject a huge sum of money into all localities nationwide in bid to stimulate domestic consumption and fight stagflation.

The cabinet under Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha approved on Tuesday economic measures totally worth about one billion U.S. dollars in cash to provide for all localities throughout the country as part of the government's short-term economy-stimulating measures, according to Finance Minister Apisak Tantiworapong.

Those economic packages include the reviving of the so-called Village Fund worth about 1.6 billion U.S. dollars for villagers nationwide to borrow without interest and with a two-years repayment term, Apisak said.

Nevertheless, the villagers will be prohibited from using the borrowed money to settle any debts, either to banks, financial firms or loan sharks, and will only be obliged to use it as a fund for their occupations, such as those in the agricultural sector.

In particular, the farmers may use the borrowed money from the Village Fund to buy occupation-related merchandise such as seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides and farm implements.

One other measure is to provide some 970 million U.S.dollars in cash for local administrations covering some 7,000 tambon ( counties) nationwide to create jobs for villagers while the other measure calls for the funding of 440 million U.S. dollars for varied government units in the provinces to implement small-sized projects by hiring private contractors, the finance minister said.

Each of the tambon administrations will be given an estimated 138,000 U.S. dollars in cash while each of the government projects will cost a maximum of about 27,000 U.S. dollars, he said.

Those measures which are primarily designed to boost the villagers' purchasing power and spur domestic consumption throughout the country will be implemented for a three-months time from now.

Deputy Premier Somkid Jatusripitak earlier commented that such short-term measures will promptly stimulate the grassroots economy and help fight the sustained stagflation.

Prayut repeatedly dismissed criticisms that those government packages are merely imitating a populist campaign launched over the last decade by former leader Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party. Endi