08.01.09 SCB chief concerned over rising unemployment
Source: TNA
BANGKOK, Jan 8 (TNA) – Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) executive chairman
Vichit Surapongchai on Wednesday expressed concern over increasing
unemployment in the country, saying it remains unclear whether the
amount of money the government set aside from the budget to help
jobless people is sufficient.
On Wednesday the government's economic ministers approved an
allocation of Bt5.2 billion to help over 500,000 jobless people
expected to officially register with the government.
He said what should be of concern for this year's economy is the rising number of jobless people.
It is still unknown which industries would gain from a budget
earmarked to stimulate the economy and how much it would spend to jump
start the economy.
He noted many countries had spent a huge amount of money to
resuscitate the economy, but it remained unsure it would help cope with
the unemployment. Currently, Dr. Vichit said, there are signs of rising
unemployment.
For instance, Toyota Motor, the country's largest automaker, began
reducing production in certain months, which could lead to more layoffs.
As well, the agricultural sector is of concern since farm product prices have declined and more farmers will be left jobless.
Simultaneously, small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) needed be
closely supervised because they represents 40 per cent of the gross
domestic product (GDP).
SCB president Kannikar Chalitaporn said the Thai economy is likely
to grow 0.5 per cent this year or only as much as 2 per cent in the
best case scenario. It is still satisfying that the economy would not
experience a negative growth.
She predicted that the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee
will further reduce the policy interest rate in the same direction with
the global interest trend to 1-2 per cent .
The baht is likely to stay at 35-36 to the US dollar while loans are
expected to grow by only 3-5 per cent compared with 6-7 per cent last
year, she said. (TNA)
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