BANGKOK, 1 July 2011– The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has asked a new government to take care of the rising cost of living as prices of many products are likely to increase further.
Chief Advisor to the FTI Board of Directors Santi Vilassakdanont said no matter who will be the new government after the 3 July election, the FTI wants everything to move forward while policies of the national administration should be mapped out smoothly. The living cost issue must also be taken care of, and the national inflation rate should not be higher than 4%.
Mr Santi believed the existing positive factors in the Thai economy will expand well. Exports are not a matter of concern as they have been expanding continuously and are expected to grow no less than 15% in 2011.
The chief advisor added that the automotive industry has revived after it suffered from the twin catastrophes in Japan; however, there are some risk factors that must be monitored, comprising oil price, exchange rate, public debt solutions in Euro Zone and economic recovery in the US and Japan.
Mr Santi noted that if domestic political turbulence was allowed to stay on, it would inevitably affect the service sector, especially tourism. He said that another problem worrying the SME sector is the price adjustment of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas expected in July.
