Thai government's subsidy for farmers raises GDP

BANGKOK, December 2 (TNA) - The government's subsidy for rice growers has raised Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) by over 30 billion baht so far. Assistant Professor Kampanat Pensupar, Director of the Center for Applied Economics Research, and Bhumisak Rasri, Director of the Agricultural Economics Operation Center, both under Bangkok-based Kasetsart University, told journalists on Tuesday that the government has paid the subsidy, worth 15.30 billion baht, to local farmers, which has helped raised the country's GDP by 34.94 billion baht, 2.57 billion baht of which is in the agricultural sector and the rest 32.37 billion baht is in other sectors. The senior academics assessed if all the subsidy, worth 40 billion baht, is paid, Thailand's GDP should increase by 91.35 billion baht, which will be 2.28 times as much as the amount of the subsidy and can reduce household debt burden for a total of about 3.49 million households of rice growers being eligible for the subsidy by 500 baht each yearly or cut their total debt burden by about 1.74 billion baht. Meanwhile, staffs of the centers surveyed 40 households of Thai rice growers in the central Lop Buri Province and found that most of them were happy with the subsidy and had already spent it, mostly on fertilizer, chemicals and cultivation supplies, followed by on debt repayment and consumer products, all of which met the objectives of the government's subsidy policy. The academics noted, however, that the subsidy caused the prices of fertilizer and pesticide on the domestic market to have increased by 3 per cent. (TNA)