Thai cabinet approves new $10B economic stimulus package
Farmer plants rice in a paddy field in Thailand's Nakhonsawan province. Photo by the VNA. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
BANGKOK, Aug 22, 2019, VNA. The Thai cabinet on August 20 approved an economic stimulus package, worth 316 billion THB (over 10 billion USD), to boost the country’s sluggish economy, reported the Vietnam News Agency.
The stimulus package consists of three main groups of measures: additional allowances to low-income earners and the elderly, debt moratorium for farmers affected by the drought crisis and efforts to mitigate the impact of the global slowdown on the Thai economy, said Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana.
The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) of Thailand estimates that GDP growth will get a 0.5-percentage-point boost from the raft of stimulus measures, bringing the economic growth to 3.5 percent this year.
FPO director-general Lavaron Sangsnit said that without the economic stimulus package, the country’s GDP growth would be 3 percent in 2019, compared to last year’s 4.1 percent.
On the same day, the Thai cabinet agreed to extend visa-on-arrival waiver for visitors from 19 countries til April 2020 to boost tourism. It is part of the newly-approved stimulus package.
Thailand’s economy has grown at the slower pace since the 2014 coup. Its GDP in the second quarter of 2019 rose 2.3 percent from a year ago, down from 2.8 percent in the first quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) announced on August 19.
It was the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2014.
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