Low-income earners suffering: poll

This was the opinion of 99.2 per cent of 1,212 respondents questioned by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) from April 16-22.

The UTCC's Economic and Business Forecasting Centre said the poll revealed low-income earners were facing higher debts amid the economic slowdown, because their incomes could not cover rising expenses. Savings have been much lower this year.

More than 80 per cent of respondents believed the political mess was the major factor causing lower economic expansion this year. Employers are being affected by lower sales and suspended operations.

The poll showed the level of low-income debt had increased 4.19 per cent from Bt87,399 a household last year, to Bt91,063 per household this year.

Almost 70 per cent of respondents said they could face greater difficulty finding new jobs this year. However, only 5.1 per cent believed there was a higher risk of being laid off because of the turmoil.

"Thailand has already lost between Bt60 billion and Bt90 billion from the political mess in the past two months. The Kingdom could lose Bt90 billion to Bt140 billion if it is prolonged to three months," said centre director Thanavath Phonvichai.

However, if the political turmoil lasts for less than three months, labourers will not be seriously affected or laid off from industries. Average unemployment will remain at 0.9 per cent of the country's total workforce of 38 million workers.

The centre said the government should introduce measures to help businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises that were hardest hit by the political demonstrations. It should also maintain a low policy-interest rate in the first half of the year, while the Bank of Thailand should strive to stabilise the baht at 32 to the US dollar.

Thanavath said the government should consider raising the minimum wage by Bt7 in the second half once the crisis was over.

While the turmoil is resulting in lower domestic consumption, the government should also continuously promote export growth, because it is the major engine driving gross domestic product, he said.