WB:Thailand is approaching wealthy-nation status

BANGKOK, December 7 (TNA) - The US-based World Bank says that Thailand has begun getting out of its poverty trap and is approaching the status of a wealthy economy in the coming years. The World Bank's Chief Economist of the East Asia and Pacific Region Sudhir Shetty and Senior Economist Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi acknowledged the improving status of the Thai economy in a World Bank latest report on "Riding the Wave:An East Asian Miracle for the 21st Century" that was publicly released on Thursday. Shetty and Laderchi stated in the report that Thailand is in the same group of Malaysia, whose economies are emerging from their poverty traps towards the list of the world's wealthy nations in the foreseeable future. Shetty and Laderchi also noted that developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific have become leading models showing to the world that their fast growing economies and public participation in domestic economic activities have clearly become supporting factors to loosen their poverty traps and to set their nearly one million population free from their impoverished condition. Besides, Shetty and Laderchi proposed three new models on stimulating economic growth in the region on the sustainable basis, along with reducing the provery problem of developing countries and their economic disparity. The three proposed approaches include providing more economic opportunities to low income earners, introducing a safety net system to take care of people in the social, public health and social security areas and to promote their savings, along with adopting taxes and financial instruments as official tools to bridge the disparity in their economies. Meanwhile, Porametee Vimolsiri, Secretary-General of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), told journalists that the World Bank's proposed models are in line with the Thai government's approaches included in the ongoing 20-year national strategy and the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021), emphasizing on an equal growth and a further reduction in disparity in all domestic economic sectors. The NESDB chief pointed out that the Thai government has steadily eased the poverty problem among the country's population over the past two decades, with the number of impoverished people having been reduced from about 11 million to about 7 million over the past 4-5 years. However, the NESDB chief conceded that about 29 million Thai grassroots, or some 40 per cent of the total population, need official support to further boost their income, namely farmers, workers and operators of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the Thai government is, thus, resorting to the 12th NESDB Plan to increase income and employment for the grassroots through its measures on wealth distribution to provincial areas, in parallel with providing them with more universal health insurance benefits and promoting their savings through the national savings fund and the national pension fund as part of official preparations for the aging Thai society over the next decade. Thanawat Phonvichai, Director of the Bangkok-based University of Thai Chamber of Commerce's Economic and Business Forecasting Center, told reporters, in the meantime, that Thailand's consumer confidence index (CCI) last month was up for its fourth consecutive month to 78.0, its highest level in 33 months, thanks to the government's economic and tourism stimulus measures, as well as expanding Thai exports and national economy. (TNA)