Economists slam 7 populist policies

 

 

 

 

 

The pledging scheme for agricultural products would result in long-term problems, they said: 77.1 per cent foresees greater corruption and price collusion, 68.6 per cent sees huge losses from stocking; 65.7 per cent considers it as a wrong signal on agricultural prices, which would lead to greater plantation areas, while 60 per cent believes that this would undermine the country's agricultural efficiency.

Wooing responses from 70 economists from 27 leading organisations for the 16 populist policies launched by the Yingluck government, the poll conducted during July 21-28 also showed that economists supported four populist policies, including the elderly allowance (80 per cent), the free public internet service (78.6 per cent) and the universal health scheme (71.4 per cent).

Among the most favourable populist policies, the economists showed least supports to the rice-pledging scheme (65.7 per cent), free tablets (65.7 per cent) and the first-car buyer scheme (58.6 per cent). 

They also favoured 5 populist policies but warned on the implementation - including the minimum wage hike (50 per cent) and the minimum Bt15,000 wage for fresh graduates (45.7 per cent).

The majority of economists, 58.6 per cent, conceded that populist policies would not enhance the country's competitiveness: 38.6 per cent say that they could somewhat enhance the competitiveness but in the unsustainable way. Meanwhile, half of them opined that while populist policies could somewhat address economic inequality but in the unsustainable way: 47.1 per cent said the policies could not help in this regard. 

Asked whether the populist policies would boost domestic demand, 52.9 per cent believed so.  

The majority of them (77.1 per cent) is convinced that net results from the policies are lower than the expenditure involved. Forty nine per cent of the economists also admitted that Thai population is addicted to populist policies.