Thailand’s parliament passed, on Sunday, a 1.9 trillion baht stimulus package aimed at boosting an economy that has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The legislation was split into three parts with the majority of the 1.9 trillion baht going towards the country’s health response and economic relief while 600 billion will be earmarked for stimulus and loans to the private sector.
With the lower house approval done, the bill will now need to be countersigned by the upper house senate. It is expected to be a formality as the senate was wholly appointed by the previous military junta whose members still occupy most of the leadership positions in the government.
The new stimulus package follows previous measures already passed by the government including emergency loans and bailouts taken from the government’s annual budget.
Despite this, the central bank has predicted that Thailand’s economy will likely contract by up to 5 per cent this year.
The country is due to introduce a new round of easing measures on Monday including allowing gyms, cinemas and other higher-risk businesses to open. Four new cases of coronavirus were discovered on Sunday, all were found in state quarantine.
