Standard Chartered calls for efficient fiscal policy

Efficient fiscal policy is needed to recover the economy in the rest of the year amid a lower space of both fiscal and monetary policies, warns Standard Chartered Bank (Thai).

Tim Leelahaphan, economist at Standard Chartered Bank (Thai), said the government has the remaining stimulus budget at around 20% of the total one trillion baht borrowing under the emergency decree.

As a result, the remaining budget should be used for efficient stimulus measures to build up people’s confidence, stimulate economic activity and support the country’s economic growth.

According to Mr Tim, Thailand’s public debt ratio has increased to around 50% of GDP now from around 40% last year.

Meanwhile, the household debt ratio has grown to above 80%, while domestic consumption, which contributes around 50% to GDP, has recorded a low rate of growth.

“Despite the government’s several…