Economic woes 'caused by coup'
Thai Rak Thai Party acting leader Chaturon Chaisang yesterday blamed the September coup for the sluggish economy and urged authorities to adopt his party's populist policies to spur consumer confidence.
"Six months after the coup the economy is fast regressing and the situation, if left unchecked, will worsen in the next three to six months," he said. Chaturon said the government should reintroduce populist policies, such as the Village Fund, the OTOP project, the Bt30 healthcare scheme and micro lending. He said the government should allow greater involvement of the private sector in managing the economy. It should also cancel certain measures seen as impeding investor confidence, such as the 30 per cent capital control and the draft legislation to amend the Foreign Business Act, he said. Chaturon also urged the government to dispel uncertainty about the new constitution and the general election. Pointing to several economic woes - a slump in domestic consumption, a slowing growth rate, a decrease in imports of capital goods and a sluggish investment climate - Chaturon claimed that every vital economic indicator had nose-dived to new lows.
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