THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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JSCCIB proposes six measures to stimulate economy

JSCCIB proposes six measures to stimulate economy

The Thai economy has yet to fully recover from the impacts of the economic slowdown due to international trade disputes, Kalin Sarasin, chairperson of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCOC), said on Wednesday (December 4) during a meeting of The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB), which he co-chairs.

“Although the government has rolled out several economic stimulus schemes such as the 'Eat, Shop, Spend' campaign, crop-price guarantee, tourism promotion, property business promotion, the GDP and exports in the third quarter are still lower than estimated, while the trend could continue into the first quarter of next year if suitable solutions are not employed on time,” he warned.
“JSCCIB would like to suggest to the government to issue short-term economic stimulus measures from now until early next year to push the economy in the last quarter of 2019 and keep it at an acceptable level throughout the first quarter of 2020,” said Kalin. The proposed measures are as follows:
1 “Shopping for the Nation” scheme should be once again employed at the year-end. Similar to previous years, this scheme allows an individual a maximum of Bt15,000 in tax rebate when they purchase consumer products at domestic stores during the New Year festival (except certain items like tobacco, liquour).
2 Tax return measures to promote domestic tourism. JSCCIB has proposed a tax return based on what a person spends while travelling domestically. The limit should be set at a maximum of Bt15,000 for individual persons and five times of what they spent for juristic persons.
3 Push state-funded projects that will generate continued investment from the private sector and SMEs, such as building water reservoirs in every province using only local contractors.
4 Promote the operation of projects under Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation such as Portfolio Guarantee Scheme Phase 8 for SMEs, and the use of a credit scoring system to calculate business risk and guarantee fee for SMEs applying for loans.
5 Speed up the VAT refund process for exporters and domestic entrepreneurs by networking with e-payment system.
6 Expand the export guarantee scheme to cover new markets as well as new territories. Also, the government should subsidise the guarantee fee for SMEs in target industries, and waive premium fee for export transactions at related agencies like Exim Bank.

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