Economists say crisis would hit ‘grassroots,’ low income populations, hardest. A university study predicts the Thai economy will contract over the first and second quarters of 2009 by up to five percent.
This stands in contrast to the earlier predicted forecast of up to four percent growth. Now there are warnings of unemployment reaching over one million people. Thai economists, in a paper to the United Nations this week, said the crisis would hit the “grassroots,” low income populations, the hardest.
The economists, from the Thailand Development Research Institute, a private sector funded think tank, said up to 30 percent of the population of 63 million is either poor or vulnerable to economic shocks, with most living in provincial regions.
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Economists Warn Thailand Lacks Safety Net in Downturn
