Bangkok (VNA) ꦑ– The Thai cabinet’s economic ministers have adopted three short-term measures to drive the country’s growth rate to 3% this year, from 2.4% as originally projected by the Fiscal Policy Office, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said on June 10.

Speaking after a meeting of economic ministers, Pichai said the first measure is to increase foreign arrivals in Thailand this year by another million, to 36.7 million, which will potentially increase GDP by 0.12%. The second is to accelerate the disbursement of the remaining 850 billion baht (23.12 billion USD) in 2024 fiscal budget, of which 20% is for investment. Pichai said that about 41% of the investment budget has already been disbursed. If 70% of the remaining investment budget can be disbursed throughout the rest of this year, it will contribute to a 0.24% increase in GDP. The last measure is to urge private investors, who have received incentives from the Board of Investment, to speed up implementation of their projects, Pichai said, adding that if about 40 billion bath of investment can be made within this year, Thailand’s GDP can increase by 0.14%-0.15%. The measures were introduced as Thai GDP growth in the first quarter was just 1.5%, the lowest of all 10 ASEAN member countries. Also at the meeting, the economic ministers considered assisting SMEs affected by the COVID pandemic three years ago by instructing the Government Savings Banks to extend low-interest credit to them via commercial banks. The cabinet is expected to introduce a measure on June 11 to guarantee the credit, estimated at about 50 billion baht, to be extended by the Thai Credit Guarantee Corp to help SMEs, said Pichai. The economic ministers also acknowledged a report from the Labour Ministry on unemployment, fuelled by mass layoffs from the many factories which are shutting down due to the sluggish economy. According to the report, as many as half a million employees have already lost their jobs and about 100,000 graduates are entering the job market this year, who may also end up jobless./.