Thai government to set up center to assist businesses affected by wage hike

BANGKOK, February 1 (TNA) - The Thai government plans to set up a center to assist local business firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), affected by its new minimum wage increase to 300 baht a day, effective from January 1, 2013. Thai Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom told reporters on Friday that the government’s committee tasked with providing assistance for local SMEs, chaired by Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan, has ordered relevant agencies to report the progress of 20 earlier announced assistance measures. Boonsong explained that, to facilitate the implementation of the 20 measures worked out by the official committee, in which he is a member, the new center will be set up to receive requests for assistance from local business operators who suffer from the 300-baht daily minimum wage. According to the minister, the center will then report to the Prime Minister’s Office and will arrange assistance for the affected business operators; while forming a sub-committee to provide assistance to the affected business operators on a case-by-case basis as well, in parallel with conducting its own study on impacts on the local SMEs. In provincial areas, the commerce minister acknowledged, local industrial councils and chambers of commerce will be assigned to receive requests for assistance from SMEs in their respective areas. The commerce minister said that the official committee is ready to introduce more assistance measures to the affected businesses, if needed, in addition to the 20 existing measures. (TNA)