Pimphattra worried about economy, plays down flood risk to factories
Industry Minister Pimphattra Wichaikul on Sunday played down flood risks posed by the El Niña phenomenon to industrial factories, saying authorities concerned and the factories themselves had prepared measures to cope with flooding.
Pimphattra was commenting on concerns that Thailand was transitioning from the El Niño to the El Niña phenomenon that could bring a lot of rains and floods to the country.
She said her ministry had been preparing measures to prevent flooding in industrial estates all along and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand had also drafted measures to cope with floods step by step.
Moreover, large factories that survived the great flooding in 2011 have also devised their own measures to prevent or mitigate floods, she said.
Pimphattra said what was more worrying than floods was the economic situation in the first half of this year, which had become problematic.
She said the bad economic situation had prompted Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to make foreign visits to try to convince foreign investors to invest in the kingdom.
She said although Srettha’s efforts were likely to yield results in the second half of this year, the state of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remained a major worry.
She said market demands had changed and SMEs must learn to adapt themselves to the changing markets.
Pimphattra said the Department of Industrial Promotion and other departments of her ministry were trying to convince SMEs to adjust their business practices to cope with the changing global situation.
The Manufacturing Performance Index (MPI) in April rose 3.43% from March to 90.34, Pimphattra said, adding April’s MPI was the first growth in 18 months. April’s manufacturing capacity usage was at 55.26%, which was not high, she said.
