Thailand plans more economic measures to cope with virus impact

BANGKOK, May 29 (Reuters): Thailand plan additional measures to retain jobs and boost domestic consumption in a bid to help the South-East Asian economy weather its most severe coronavirus outbreak so far, the state planning agency has announced.

The tourism-reliant nation is struggling with a third wave of infections which have accounted for more than 80% its total cases and deaths.

“We need to have enough oxygen for the business sector to get going… and to sustain consumption at normal levels,” Danucha Pichayanan, head of the National Economic and Social Development Council, told a seminar.

“We can survive if we help each other,” he said.

The measures being prepared include one to retain jobs at smaller firms and assistance for tourism, which has been hit by the outbreak, he said, without…