The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 27, April 2010 has come to the following decision:
The Cabinet approved the two proposals of the Ministry of Education as follows:
1. Allow the Office of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education: Office of Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) to extend the procurement process until the end of May 2010.
2. Allow the OBEC to extend the teacher development and employment project from the previous due of September 2010 to December 2010.
The Cabinet approved in principle for the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) to make public service obligation as proposed by the Ministry of Interior. The Public Service Obligation Committee, State Enterprise Policy Office will consider the obligation amount by reviewing the criteria for the Public Service Obligation for the budget year 2010 as commented by the Budget Bureau. Also, the Ministry of Interior has to take the comment from the Ministry of Finance and the National Social and Economic Development Board into account.
The Cabinet approved loan details and conditions according to the Ministry of Finance authority to borrow for economic rehabilitation and stability enhancement Decree B.E.2009 for the third quarter of year 2010 by Term Loan amounting 80,000 million Baht. This is in line with loan process according to the Ministry of Finance authority to borrow for economic rehabilitation and stability enhancement Decree B.E.2009 as proposed by the Ministry of Finance.
The Cabinet acknowledged the economic effect from the political unrest reported by the Ministry of Commerce with the following content.Political unrest begin to affect some part of the economy
1. Retail Trade Effect in the Protest AreaLoss grew by the increasing numbers of protest days in the existing protest area, with an estimated loss of 300 million Baht a day and damage occurred from small vendors in new protest area and from closing down in some route of the BTS train.
2. Domestic Trade Economic EffectOverall, consumer goods still sell at their normal prices and at adequate amount with no hoard. Consumers can purchase at some other places besides the protest area. In addition, the department stores employ sale promotion to boost sales.
3. International Trade Economic Effect
3.1 Export Effect; in the short term, Thai export has not been affected by the protest. Export value stood at USD 44,380.6 million during January - March 2010 or 31.6% higher than the same period last year due to purchasing order at the end of last year and the goods delivery at current period. But if the protest delays, the overall export will be affected.
3.2 Retail Trade for Export in the Protest Area Effect; the negative effect is being felt. From the survey of the private sector in Pratunam trading area that is a retail area for small foreign buyers to buy goods for resale in their countries, the result showed a significant decline in these buyers.
3.3 The Ministry of Commerce Trade Fair and Economic Stimulus Effect; the protest deteriorated exhibitors’ and visitors’ confidence of both Thais and foreigners who plan to attend international trade fairs in Thailand by the Department of Export Promotion as follow:
3.3.1 Decline in exhibitors and visitors of Bangkok International Gift Fair & Bangkok International Houseware Fair to be held during April 20th — 25th, 2010. The numbers of exhibitor registered at 598 or 9.53% lower than last year and the numbers of visitor stood at only 6,992 or 45.71% less than last year in which the foreign visitors accounted for 24.26% of a decline.
3.3.2 Postpone of THAIFEX — World of Food Asia 2010, which is a major food fair scheduled during May 12th — 16th, 2010 to be postponed to June 30th — July 4th, 2010. If the previous schedule still maintains, there will be 60% cancellations from exhibitor or 137 exhibitors and only 1,901 advance-registered of visitors or 71% lower than last year.If there is a delay of a protest, it is expected that other trade fairs will be affected including International Trade Fair by the Department of Export Promotion and economic stimulus fair by other Departments of the Ministry of Commerce. Some fairs that will be highly affected by the protest have already been postponed.
3.3.3 Logistics Effect. From the latest survey of private logistics service provider, the overall logistics process for export has not been affected.
4. Alleviation Measures by the Ministry of Commerce
4.1 The Ministry of Commerce still has confidence in its trade strategy that continuously focus on domestic consumption such as the economic stimulus fair in four regions, the Blue Flag Fair, and the price stability monitoring, which build consumer confidence in both short and medium terms.
4.2 The Ministry of Commerce has monitored both central and regional price level and available selling quantity daily to prevent consumers from being taken advantage of or hoard in the political unrest. In addition, there is a hotline for complaining about unfair price together with the monitoring center of the Ministry of Commerce to jointly solve the problem with the producers.
4.3 The price regulation on basic consumer goods until the end of June 2010 has received cooperation from most of the producers.The Ministry of Commerce still closely monitors and keeps track of political situation to be able to adjust alleviation plan for both Thai and foreign producers and also consumers according to the changing situation and to continually report other progresses.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) April 27, 2010--