News
Political turmoil is undermining the Kingdom economic strategies
The ongoing Red Shirt political rally poses risks for Thailands economic recovery, but panellists at a Nation Group roundtable discussion on Friday were more specifically concerned about threats to the countrys competitiveness and long-term development strategy.
Finance Ministry Spokesman Ekniti Nitithanprapas said that if the red shirts are able to disrupt the functioning of the government during the second or third quarters, the resulting power vacuum would affect the 2011 budget, which needs parliamentary approval before the start of the fiscal year in October. This would affect the disbursement of the Thai Khemkhaeng TKK stimulus funds, as another Bt400 billion worth of investment is awaiting parliamentary approval.Ekniti said the investment is necessary to strengthen Thailands economic competitiveness, given that the political chaos had prevented any government investment in improving infrastructure, compared to a typical expenditure of more than 10 per cent of the annual central budget in years gone by.”On a global scale, Thailands competitiveness is ranked 26th. But the main weak point is lack of improvement in physical and intangible infrastructure [labour productivity, education and R&D]. Without the investment [under TKK, despite the small size of each project], we would see no major investment in this regard at all,” he said at the roundtable.
via Political turmoil undermining the Kingdoms economic strategies.
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ASEAN economies poised for robust recovery with 6% real GDP growth in 2021
The six largest ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) are expected to witness positive real GDP growth rates in 2021 according to Global Data

Receding daily COVID-19 cases, rollout of vaccines, increased spending by the governments along with easing of monetary restrictions will help revive the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN*) economies in 2021 with their real GDP forecasted to rise by 6%, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
News
Thailand new coronavirus cases -59- down to two digits
Of the new cases, 28 were exposed to the virus while visiting high-risk areas. The province with the highest number of infections is Bangkok (10), followed by Samut Sakhon (7).

Thailand confirmed 59 new coronavirus cases and one additional death on Wednesday, taking its total infections to 12,653 and fatalities to 71, the first day Covid infections are down to two digits since the beginning of the second Covid-19 outbreak in the country in December.
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