CEBF Director Dr. Thanawat Polvichai elaborated that the Thai economy after the general election would improve thanks to the national political stability and that the 2011 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would be between 4.5 to 5%.
Dr.Thanawat, however, expressed concerns over populist policies, especially the crop mortgaging scheme and the minimum wage hike policy given they would together require over 3-4 trillion baht of budget per year, causing the nation’s public debt ratio to exceed 41% of the GDP.
The director further explained that the ratio should not exceed 50%; however, the aforementioned policies might affect the financial discipline of the government. He therefore suggested that the government should set up a special team to monitor and regulate budget disbursement for each policy.