Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. THE NATION (THAILAND)
The Thai government is seeking measures to combat the economic impact of the new Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on January 4.
The prime minister’s comment came after the daily infection rate rose to 745 cases, the highest since the virus emerged early last year.
Prayut expressed concern over the impact on the 28 provinces under “maximum controls” after being hit by more than 50 cases. Provincial governors would have to decide on what restrictions were appropriate for the Covid-19 situation in their province, he said.
Responding to calls from businesses to extend suspension of debt repayments, Prayut said the existing debt holiday had not yet ended. Many businesses are still struggling from the impact of the first outbreak, though some had resumed repaying debts to banks before the new surge in cases.
The prime minister said the fresh outbreak called for new measures for which the government would have to find funds. “If we can’t find the funding, it will be over.”
Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee responsible for monitoring one trillion baht ($33.4 billion) of Covid-relief borrowing were set to convene on January 5 for a meeting with officials from the finance ministry, the Bank of Thailand and the State Council.
Committee spokesman Akadet Wongpitakroj said it wants to amend the Covid relief emergency decree to ease conditions attached to 500 billion baht in soft loans to support small businesses.
The amendment was needed because businesses have found it difficult to access the loans, he said.
Meanwhile, the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), said the government has 400 billion baht left of the one trillion baht in borrowing to fund Covid-relief projects. The PDMO said the government had borrowed about 600 billion baht so far.
The Cabinet approved borrowing of 510 billion baht for Covid-relief last year. The PDMO received 370 billion baht of that money and used most of it (348 billion baht) to relieve people’s financial burdens, said PDMO director-general Patricia Mongkhonvanit.
She said the Cabinet also approved 130 million baht for economic recovery projects in 2020, of which 34 billion baht went to the PDMO.
THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
