Largely clueless about the government’s economic plans, a majority of Thais believe officials should go on the road to publicise their initiatives to reignite the economy, a poll released Thursday concluded.
The survey of 1,200 people nationwide by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce showed that only 18% of the public and business owners were aware of the government's two-phase economic-stimulus programme.
UTCC president Saowanee Thairungroj said the majority of those surveyed felt the government should launch roadshows about its economic polices to increase awareness and provide opportunities for the government to gauge the needs of different regions.
Asked about individual proposals in each of the two part of the stimulus package, the public showed overwhelming ignorance of what the government was proposing or the details of each initiative.
The survey found 83.7% knew nothing of the disbursement of budget funds for small projects worth under 1 million baht; 74.1% were unaware of the allocation of 5 million baht for every tambon; and 61.9% did not know anything about loans to be made through village funds.
The levels of ignorance were even higher for the second phase of the stimulus programme: 91.9% unaware of tax exemptions for small- and medium-sized enterprises; 88.1% oblivious of loan guarantees by the Thai Credit Guarantee Corp; 86.2% clueless about a start-up plan for SMEs, 82.4% unknowledgeable about the reduction of the corporate income tax rate to 10% for two years; and 78.5% unaware of low-interest loans for SMEs.
The majority of respondents also did not know about several measures implemented by the Commerce Ministry to assist people with living costs.
After being educated on the proposals, the public reacted favourably to the initiatives, the UTCC found. Led by satisfaction with the village fund loans, 67.6% of those answering said they were happy with the economic policies.
The majority of the respondents believed that the government's economic measures would help stimulate the economy and contribute to growth. They viewed that household spending, saving, and living conditions would improve.
Ms Saowanee said business operators responding to the questionnaire were confident they would see increased sales as money injected into the economy by the government would find its way into daily spending and investment.
Thanavath Phonvichai, vice-president for research and director of the UTCC Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, said the general public and business owners had positive reactions to the government's policies and expected to see greater earnings.
However, Thailand has been hit by several negative factors, causing the public to have the perception that the government's economic policies were not effective.
He said if the government could get its money into the hands of the people within one month, it was still possible that the Thai economy could grow by 3% this year.