Spending tops concerns as Govt scrapes through

Six top executives also told a seminar yesterday that they gave the administration of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra a passing grade but had reservations about its future policies especially when the global economy still faces a crisis from the euro-zone debt dilemma.

Of the 1,200 respondents to the opinion poll conducted by the Uni-versity of the Thai Chamber of Com-merce, those from the general public gave the Yingluck government a score of 5.47 out of 10 points for its successful administration of the country during the past year, while businesses gave it 6.28 marks.
 

“The government has barely passed the test for its first year after many populist policies,” said Thana-vath Phonvichai, director of the university’s Economic and Business Forecasting Centre.
“People are mostly satisfied with the outcome of its 16 projects. How-ever, people still see that the government has spent a massive amount on implementing those measures and that may affect the country’s budget.”
 

The government has disbursed more than Bt400 billion on many populist measures including shoring up farm-goods prices, freezing fuel prices and giving tax breaks for first-house and first-car purchases.
 

In its second year, people expect the government to tackle the rising cost of living, improve the efficiency of water and flood prevention measures, promote alternative energy, solve corruption and develop infrastructure projects.
 

Thanavath said that next year the economy would be hit hard by the euro financial crunch and global recession. The government needs to focus on long-term development rather than on populist policies.
 

It should increase efficiency in spending the country’s budget on infrastructure development, reduce corruption and strictly subdue the drug scourge as national priorities, he added.
The poll also showed that the government failed on the corruption issue, receiving only 4.6 points, and narrowly passed on the key task of solving the deep-South conflict.

LABOUR SHORTAGE
 

Chantana Sukumanont, executive vice president for marketing and sales at Siam City Cement, said she gave the government a score of 7 because it had to fight the flood for its first four months, so it had only eight months to manage the country. It also still has to be concerned about how to manage future flooding.
 

However, the government has succeeded in managing sovereign political risk and building confidence in the country, she told the seminar on “One Year of Prime Minister Ying-luck” organised by Thansetthakij, a business newspaper.
 

“We continue to be concerned for the future because now the country faces a labour shortage but the government has the policy to build infrastructure worth more than Bt2.2 trillion,” she said.
 

Issara Boonyoung, president of the Housing Business Association, agreed that the labour shortage would be problem for the country in the future. The government failed in its first-house scheme, with only Bt4 billion extended to home-buyers from the mortgage budget of Bt20 billion.
 

Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said he gave a passing grade because this is the first time the industry has known about the government’s policy to develop the logistics system, especially to open Don Mueang Airport as a hub for low-cost carriers.
 

“The government also has a strategy on how to develop the tourist business by expanding both Suvarna-bhumi Airport and Don Mueang. This will help the business to know what to do in the future,” he said.
 

Paiboon Narintarangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations, said the economy growing 4 per cent in the first half of this year and the SET Index still showing an uptrend proved that the government had succeeded in managing the country.
 

However, he wonders whether the global economy will change after the euro crisis and whether government has a plan to deal with problems in the future as a result of any changes.
 

Suparat Sirisuwannangkura, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries’ Auto Industry Club, acknowledged that the industry had benefited greatly from the first-car policy. Auto output is on track to jump 42-49 per cent to between 2.2 million and 2.3 million units this year from only 1.54 million last year, when production was disrupted by the inundation in the fourth quarter.
 

Settapong Malisuwan, vice chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commis-sion, said the government had the policy to develop the country’s broadcasting and telecom systems in line with the NBTC’s guidelines, but it had to prepare organisations to support the system changes in the future.