BANGKOK, Dec 24 – Thailand’s Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) estimated that the country’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) this year will grow 3.3 per cent and 4.3-4.7 per cent next year.
OSMEP director Dr Patima Jeerapat said the country’s SME situations this year has bottomed out and are now on the rise as seen from the production expansion of various goods such as vehicles and mixed cement.
Dr Patima said the 3.3 per cent growth projection is in line with the country’s growth forecast at 3 per cent due to domestic and global factors such as lowered agricultural price, continuous lowered export expansion ratio, rising energy cost, political situations and improved economies of Thailand’s main trading partners.
He said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) next year is expected to grow 4.5 per cent and SMEs expansion is to grow 4.3-4.7 per cent. Household consumption is expected to grow 8 per cent, thanks to the public’s higher income as a result of the government’s measures to lower personal income tax and minimum wage raise. Other global factors will also count for the growth.
According to OSMEP, there are about 2.7 million SMEs in Thailand, comprising 98.5 per cent of overall enterprises and creating employment for 11.7 million persons, which count for 80.4 per cent of overall employment.
