Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak (Photo: AFP/VNA)Bangkok (VNA) - Agriculture, tourism andstate spending will be driving forces to rebooting the Thai economy in the secondhalf of 2020, said Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.
The state-owned Bank for Agriculture andAgricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is implementing a programme to bringtechnology to assist local communities and small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) in the farm sector, he said.
The BAAC wants to help 100,000 local communitiesand 10,000 SMEs nationwide each year, he added.
Somkid said the government expects to allowdomestic tourism in provinces with no COVID-19 cases by the third quarter tohelp tourism-related businesses.
The government's plan to splash 1 trillion baht(over 31 billion USD), especially 400 billion baht slated for economic andsocial rehabilitation through projects aimed at creating jobs, strengtheningcommunities and building infrastructure, will also help stimulate the localeconomy in the remainder of the year, he added.
Thailand’s GDP in the first quarter of 2020 fellby 1.8 percent year-on-year after growth of 1.5 percent in the fourth quarterlast year. This was the first contraction since 2014.
The dismal results prompted the NationalEconomic and Social Development Council (NESDC) to cut its economic forecast toa contraction of 5-6 percent this year, down from the 1.5-2.5 percent growthprojection issued in February./.
VNA
