PM confident economy will grow in Q4

Abhisit said his government would act more quickly to deal with the economic challenge now prevailing throughout the world.

He was responding to results of a survey by Suan Dusit Poll, which found that 70 per cent of the respondents said they believed the Thai economy was worsening and shrinking, despite the government's insistence that growth would return in the last quarter of the year.

Abhisit, who was on a trip to the United States to attend international meetings, was speaking to reporters via a web conference from New York to Government House in Bangkok.

The prime minister delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Earlier in the week, he took part in the Group of 20 Summit in Pittsburgh as the Asean chair.

The latest Suan Dusit Poll survey found that a majority of people believe the economy has worsened while more than half are earning the same as before, prompting many to borrow from financial institutions and loan sharks.

About 70 per cent of 1,298 respondents told the poll between September 22-24 that the economy had worsened, according to the results revealed yesterday. Some 57 per cent said their incomes remained the same, while 39 per cent said they earned less than before. They made ends meet by cutting expenses, and borrowing from official and unofficial sources.

About 47 per cent of those with debts to financial institutions want the government to lower loan interest rates, and 36 per cent want an extension of the debt-repayment period.

Some 57 per cent of those with debts to loan sharks want the government to provide them with cheaper loans so they could pay off the usurers.

Meanwhile, 28 per cent were not confident in the government's schemes for tackling people's debt problems, and 20.9 per cent took the contrary view. About 50 per cent of the respondents said they remained undecided on this issue.