The Thai Chamber of Commerce submitted three urgent proposals to the government today, aimed at enhancing the confidence of Thai and foreign investors, increasing the competitiveness of Thai SMEs and the formulation of a national strategy for sustainable growth.
Chamber President Sanan Angubolkul explained that, to restore investor confidence in the country in the short term, the government must accelerate disbursement of the 2024 fiscal budget and instruct local administrative bodies to spend their budgets to stimulate their local economies.
The government should speed up the distribution of cash benefit payments under the “digital wallet” scheme to vulnerable people and the disabled as first priority, to be followed by a 50:50 economic stimulus package to boost the purchasing power of consumers, said Sanan, adding that this package will not cost the state a great deal.
The government should also cut power and fuel charges, cut land and property taxes, stabilise prices of necessary goods,help good debtors and update laws and regulations to promote the competitiveness of the private sector.
In order to increase the competitiveness of the SMEs, Sanan said the government should promote Thai products on E-commerce platforms while increasing Thai exports through various means.
Thai SMEs, said Sanan, must not reduce the prices of their products in an attempt to compete with Chinese products, because they cannot beat them due to the economies of scale.
Instead, they should concentrate on improving the quality of Thai products, while foreign investors in Thailand must be required to use local content in their production and their payment systems be subject to control by the Bank of Thailand, Sanan added.
He emphasised the need for human resource development, to support new industries, through the creation of learning centres and to change the role of teachers from “centres of knowledge” to “facilitators”.
Sanan claimed that these urgent proposals from the Thai Chamber of Commerce will help boost Thailand’s GDP by 3-5% per annum.
Sanan led board members of the chamber to meet Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra today at Shinawatra Tower 3, to congratulate her upon being appointed prime minister.
