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Thailand: Unemployment to hit 1.4m if economy stays flat

BANGKOK – Thailand's number of jobless people will increase to 1.4 million or 3.7 per cent of the workforce in the worst-case scenario if the country's economic growth stays flat this year, according to the Bank of Thailand (BoT).

The number includes new university graduates and workers in the agricultural sector, who are left unemployed as the harvesting season went by, according to Amara Sripayak, senior director of the BoT's Local Economy Division.

In case the economy grows 1 per cent, the number will rise to 1.2 million or 3.3 per cent.

But in the best-case scenario, the number will edge up to 1.1 million unemployed or 2.9 per cent if the economy expands 2 per cent.

She said that unemployment this year is expected to be more critical than last year because the economy will expand slightly, insufficient to provide employment for all the country's job-seekers.

Mrs. Amara said the government's target to see the economy grow 2.5 per cent and its decision to issue economic stimulus packages would benefit one million jobless people.

The central bank hopes the economic stimulus packages the government has already issued and plans to issue in the future will help restore psychological confidence regarding the economy.

She said the Monetary Policy Committee's decision to cut the policy interest rate by 75 basis points to 2 per cent is part of the BoT's efforts to stimulate the economy.

With the further interest cut, Mrs. Amara said, financial institutions would have lower costs in lending.

She believed consumers will spend more as confidence returns following the easing of political tensions and the formation of the new government.

Regarding mounting concerns that the difference between Thai and overseas interest rates would affect the capital inflow and outflow, Mrs. Amara affirmed there is no problem because interest rates in every country have declined.

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