COMMERCE MINISTRY AWAITS CABINET BACKING FOR STIMULUS PLANS

The Commerce Ministry will propose its economic stimulus plans to the Cabinet today after being given an additional budget of Bt1 billion to boost economic growth.

Several projects will be proposed to promote domestic growth, while the ministry can allocate only a normal budget to help the export sector as it has not received any additional funding for this sector.

Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said yesterday that with a limited allocation from the government's supplementary budget, the ministry must focus on promoting the domestic economy as a priority.

"To ensure that the export sector achieves its target of 3 per cent, or Bt184.7 billion this year, the ministry must spend a normal budget to conduct a roadshow first," she said, adding the Bt1-billion budget will be spent only for boosting the domestic economy.

Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said that despite the limited funds to boost exports, the ministry would seek an emergency budget from the government and the new fiscal-year budget as a way to help promote the sector.

The Internal Trade Department will be responsible for this additional budget, which is targeted to expand the domestic economy by 0-2 per cent this year.

Yangyong Phuangrach, director-general of the department, said that it planned to set aside Bt350 million to set up farm outlet projects to help farmers sell low-priced goods to people.

About Bt100 million will be spent organising cheap-price fairs nationwide. Three to five large trade fairs will be held in Bangkok, 15 fairs regionally, and 50 in each province.

Next, the department will allocated a budget of Bt160 million to set up "blue shops and fresh blue markets" for selling food and consumers goods at Bt60 per item.

In addition, to help subsidise the high cost of living for consumers during these tough times, Porntiva has ordered the department to convince processed-food traders and food courts to decrease their retail price by Bt5 per dish.

The current retail price for ready-to-eat food is normally Bt20-Bt25 per dish, but the ministry will try to contain it at Bt15-Bt20.

About 5,600 food kiosks nationwide, cooperating with the ministry, will cut their price by Bt5 per dish, starting next month.

Due to the limited budget of the ministry, it must temporarily stop some marketing activities to support export growth this year.

The Thailand Best Friends project, aimed at facilitating importers to conduct market surveys, will be postponed.