Shutdown could lead to dangerous coup: economic lecturer

 

Assoc Prof Panupong Nitiprapa, dean of Thammasat University's Faculty of Economics, said Friday that lessons learnt from 2006 showed that Thailand has lost several economic opportunities because of the coup.

"After the 2006 coup, opportunities have been lost. In the following year, Asia showed 5.3 per cent economic growth, against the world's average of 5.1 per cent. In the year, Thailand showed only 4.5 per cent in economic growth. This worries us immensely. Political changes entail some costs. Changes in policies could pose long-term impacts on the economy, particularly if public spending could not be maintained," he said at the seminar hosted by the faculty.

He also noted that fiscal measures would not be fully effective in boosting the economy, while Thailand is waiting for the new government to be formed. Delays of new measures could also dent investor and consumer confidence. It is highly possible that economic growth targets would be missed.

Personally, he believed that the actual growth should be about 1 percentage point lower than targets.

"Personally, the possibility that the targets would be missed is high. What's happening now highly affects consumer confidence and consumption contributes hugely to the economy. Though public spending could be raised, the economy won't expand much on low consumer confidence," he said.