Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's UN trip has eased international concerns over the military coup, paving the way for other cabinet ministers to make overseas visits to boost foreign investor confidence in Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said Wednesday.
"The prime minister's UN visit was a turning point as it demonstrated decreasing international pressure on us," the country's economic czar said in an interview a week ahead of the Post Forum where he will lead four other ministers to speak about their policies. "I have instructed other ministers, namely Commerce, Science and Transport, to team up with the private sector for a roadshow [in Western countries], and act as if relations are back to normal," said Mr Somkid, who said he wants to visit Germany.
The government spokesman's office lauded Gen Prayut's trip to the 70th UN General Assembly in New York as a success, with images of US President Barack Obama shaking hands with the Thai coup leader at a dinner reception for world leaders receiving significant attention from the Thai media.
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Mr Somkid, a marketer by training, painted a brighter economic outlook for the country this year and next, saying domestic consumer confidence had improved after his new team introduced a slew of stimulus packages to boost rural spending and provide credit more easily to small and medium business enterprises (SMEs).
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, the economy czar: Provincial hubs will aim to help farmers. (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)
According to a September survey by Kasikorn Research Centre released on Tuesday, householders' economic expectations and income expectations are at their highest point in the last six months, due to the new stimulus packages.
Mr Somkid said the weakening baht has helped Thai exporters and he has asked the new Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprapob to monitor the baht's stability.
"The current level of the baht is benefiting the country," Mr Somkid said, adding the baht's depreciation was mainly caused by the currency weakness of its two regional peers -- the Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah.
Falling global commodity prices and a long-running political scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak have made net energy exporter Malaysia's ringgit Asia's worst-performing currency, with a 16.4% plunge so far this year, according to Bloomberg.
Indonesia's commodity-dependent rupiah is the second-worst performer with a fall of 9.73%, followed by the Thai baht with a fall of 8.22%.
Mr Somkid said though the country's export performance in the past eight months has been in the red in US dollar terms, its value in baht has risen significantly and benefited global car makers such as Toyota Motor Corp, whose exported vehicles use many Thai-made parts.
Mr Somkid said the much-awaited property stimulus package will be tabled for cabinet approval next Tuesday.
"I know property developers really need this package, but we need to pass it at the right time," he said.
Items expected in the property package include relaxed housing loan criteria from the GH Bank for low-income earners and a reduction in transfer and mortgage fees to 0.01% for a period of six months to a year to alleviate the burden on homebuyers, a Finance Ministry source has said.
Mr Somkid said the next measure to boost the economy is to find a way to help rice farmers hit by low prices and farming bans due to drought.
"This is a hole that hasn't been fixed. That's why we have seen persistently weak purchasing power," he said.
After the May 2014 coup, the military-appointed government ended the populist rice-pledging scheme of ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, which allegedly cost the state coffers half a trillion baht.
Mr Somkid's predecessor, MR Pridiyathorn Devakula opted to help farmers by giving them 1,000 baht per rai in cash with a maximum of 15 rai, a measure Mr Somkid said was not enough.
As the export outlook remains uncertain next year, Mr Somkid said the government would try to stimulate economic activity at provincial level, mobilising provincial governors and other provincial state agency chiefs to work with the private sector.
"Eventually Prime Minister Prayut will visit different regional hubs to ensure those provincial mechanisms are working. These will be key performance indicators of the provincial state agency chiefs," Mr Somkid said.
On infrastructure spending, Mr Somkid said the Transport Ministry will speed up construction of Bangkok rail lines, transnational east-west railways and highways, especially a lower corridor to provide a transport link for cargo and passengers to India via Myanmar.
Two east-west railways for both freight and passengers will be constructed, the first running from Mukdahan province through Khon Kaen and Phitsanulok provinces to Tak province's Mae Sot district and Myanmar.
The other east-west line will stretch from Rayong through Bangkok to Kanchanaburi province, passing through industrial areas along the way, and transporting cargo to India through Myanmar, he said.
