Thai government to introduce new round of economic stimulus

BANGKOK, March 28 (TNA) - The Thai government plans to introduce a new round of economic stimulus measures, the third one, next month to cushion the national economic growth. The Kasikorn Research Center (KRC), thus, predicted on Monday that the Thai government's third round of economic stimulus measures, together with its spending of a contingency budget should increase the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.5 per cent. KRC Managing Director Charl Kengchon told journalists that the government has planned the new stimulus measures to be implemented in the upcoming Songkran Festival, but the measures alone should not inject too much money into the national economy. Charl pointed out that a measure to allow domestic vacationers to each deduct up to 15,000 baht of their spending from taxable income should cause 5 billion baht to change hands, while bonuses, worth 1-2 billion baht, for government officials should not significantly stimulate the national economy if the money came from some old projects earlier planned for the 2016 fiscal year. Besides, the government's 30-billion-baht lending for the construction of cheap residences for people's first house project (pre-finance) should create an economic value worth 10-20 billion baht. However, Charl considered as very important the government's planned spending, worth 56.28 billion baht, from its contingency fund, with its disbursement expected to begin next month, as it would fund new infrastructure development projects, including inter-city motorway construction. The KRC managing director assessed if 70 per cent of the government's budget, or about 40 billion baht, was disbursed, it should significantly stimulate the national economy and the budget and other economic stimulus measures should create an additional economic value of 65.5 billion baht, equivalent to 0.5 per cent of Thailand's GDP. The KRC managing director noted that the Thai economy needs money injection from the government to faster revolve money and particularly boost the purchasing power of low-income people. According to the KRC managing director, some countries are also stimulating their economies, while Thailand's fiscal status is sound because the country's public debt is not too high. (TNA)