Thai government urged to accelerate public projects

BANGKOK, June 22 (TNA) - The Thai Chamber of Commerce calls on the government to speed up its budget spending on public investment and tourism plans to enhance confidence in the Thai economy among businsess operators. While voicing the call on June 21, TCC Chairman Kalin Sarasin reasoned that a slowdown in public consumption has been observed in provincial areas, caused by the problem of uneven income distribution and a drop in farm produce prices. Kalin said the Thai government should also encourage and promote more tourism activities in, what are now considered, less popular destinations and should increase marketing programs, aimed to add values to local products, boost income for the local farm sector and enhance competitiveness of the Thai agricultural sector. The TCC chairman made the remarks in response to a report issued by Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) that it has developed a new TCC confidence index as a measure of economic and business prospect in provincial Thai areas, which showed its standing at the 47.7 level last month, lower than the 49.4 level a month earlier and the mean point of the 50 level. Thanawat Phonvichai (ธนวรรธน์ พลวิชัย), Director of UTCC's Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, attributed the declining TCC confidence index to local people's concerns over low prices of farm products, but rising costs of production, and a slowdown in private consumption and investment caused by rising oil prices. The senior economist noted, however, that the TCC confidence index for the industrial sector and trade in provincial areas last month generally remained intact from April. (TNA)