Academics ask if govt creating ‘poverty trap’

They voiced their concern during a seminar titled “The Fate of |the Poor during the Transitional Period: Whose Stability, Prosperity |and Sustainability?”, held at Thammasat University yesterday.
Decharut Sukkumnoed, a lecturer from Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Economics, told the forum the benefits from economic growth need to be shared among all groups of people if development is to be sustainable.
“But the truth is that the lowest 20 per cent of income earners in Thailand have always had more expenses than income,” he said.
Although he reckoned that welfare provided by the government had eased the cost of living burden of grassroots households, Decharut emphasised that people in the lowest income group should have better access to land and job security.
Somchai Srisant of the TU |Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies said that in the eyes of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), only people earning less than Bt2,647 a month were considered poor. By the NESDB criteria, only 7.2 per cent of Thai people were considered poor last year.
“But in fact, there are many indicators of poverty, including ones related to human development.”
He said that in terms of human development, Bangkok achieved the best performance while the poorest performance was recorded in Mae Hong Song, Tak, besides Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
“These five provinces also had high concentrations of poor people,” Somchai said.
He said poor people were often linked to low level of education, a big family, and farming.
On the bright side, speakers at the forum said the universal healthcare scheme and free education by the government had helped low-income families.
“Findings also show that low-income people use the government-provided welfare more than other groups of people, particularly in regard to monthly subsidies for the elderly and the monthly subsidies for people with physical disabilities,” Decharut said.