Cabinet approves Bt115bn for 481 short-term economic stimulus projects

The cabinet approved 481 projects today, costing an estimated Bt115bn, all aimed at stimulating economic growth by 0.4% and creating temporary jobs for 7.4 million people across the country.

Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said that, although the spending will stimulate the economy in the near term, it will help improve Thailand’s competitiveness, while the global economy is fluctuating due to uncertainties.

The 481 projects cover water resource and communication development infrastructure, tourism promotion, mitigation of impacts on the export sector, increased productivity, digital development and community-based economies.

Pichai disclosed that there are 34 projects in the infrastructure development categories, with a total budget of about 85 billion baht. These include eight water resources development projects, to prevent flooding during the rainy season and drought during the dry season, as well as the prevention of land erosion.

He said the projects will benefit more than 900,000 households by providing access to water for more than 640,000 hectares of farmland and will create about 70,000 temporary jobs per month.

Regarding communication infrastructure development, there are 26 road maintenance projects, covering a distance of 417km. Investment costs are estimated at 45.8 billion baht and 285,000 people are expected to be employed temporarily.

There are 420 tourism development projects, with a total investment estimated at about 10 billion baht. It is expected that these projects will increase tourist arrivals by an additional 2.7 million people, who will inject about 55 billion baht into the economy.

There are 10 projects, worth about 11 billion baht, aimed at mitigating impacts on exports and increasing productivity. It is estimated that each farming household will earn an additional 6,000 baht from every 0.16 hectares of farmland per annum.

About nine billion baht has been also allocated for the improvement of community-based economies through 17 projects.