FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Economic cabinet considering measures to alleviate long-term impact on economy

Economic cabinet considering measures to alleviate long-term impact on economy

The economic cabinet is considering ways to tackle the long-term impact on the Thai economy from the Covid-19 outbreak, a top official said.

Although the government has issued monetary and financial measures to support the economy in the short term, evaluating the Thai economy to find proper measures to support the economy during the crisis in the long-term is very important, the official said.
Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to the Prime Minister for Political Affairs as secretary of the economic cabinet, said that the economic cabinet had always reported the situation and the impact of Covid-19 to the prime minister and the Cabinet to evaluate and find proper measures.
“When the outbreak emerged in Wuhan, China, in January this year and it emerged that the number of patients was greater than the number of patients during the Sars outbreak, we reported to the prime minister and the Cabinet about the impact on tourism. We expected that it would affect the Thai economy for three months before recovery,” he said.
“Meanwhile, at the Cabinet meeting on March 6 when the first set of economic stimulus measures was issued, we expected that the Covid-19 outbreak would last until June this year and recover later this year.”
He said that when the Covid-19 spread to other countries, it affected the production supply chain, tourism and services, posing major challenges for the economy this year.
“Therefore, at the previous Cabinet meeting, we evaluated that this outbreak would last until June or the second quarter of this year and return to normal in the third quarter of this year,” he said.
“For Thailand, if this assumption was met, the economy, especially tourism, will begin to recover in the fourth quarter when the government will issue another set of measures to help related businesses to recover faster.”
He said that after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic and Thailand faced the risk of entering the third phase of the epidemic, it could lead to a 50 per cent drop in the number of tourists visiting Thailand compared to 2019.
“With the number of tourists decreasing, it will affect tourism, hotel, and labour in the tourism sector. Therefore, the economic cabinet needs to evaluate the situation again at the next meeting, while we expect that a new set of measures would be issued within April this year,” he said.
“We admit that although many countries had issued monetary and financial measures to relieve the impact on the economy, this global pandemic may cause the economy of major countries to go into recession and affect the Thai economy, so we must monitor the situation closely.”
He said that at the next Cabinet meeting, aside from evaluating the impact of Covid-19 on the Thai economy, they need to issue additional measures to help businesses that face an impact in the long term, such as airline business that are affected by travel suspension during the outbreak and logistics businesses, which are affected by countries imposing lockdowns in some areas.
“Also, we have to evaluate 14 measures previously issued on how many economic problems can be solved and if it were necessary to issue additional measures,” he said. “We will discuss with other sectors to create confidence in people during the crisis.”
He said that the government is monitoring and evaluating the Covid-19 impact on the economy.
“In Europe, we found that the number of patients and deaths in Italy has increased, while the US also faces the epidemic, leading to closure of schools, lockdown of cities, and declaration of a state of emergency.”
He added that this situation will affect the economy at large.
“Therefore, the government needs to prepare proper economic stimulus measures to support the economy if the Covid-19 situation lasts a whole year,” he added.

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