Key issues
The Second Plan was formulated to be consistent with the development policies during the previous 6 years and was largely a continuation of the First Plan. However, the scope of its objectives was expanded to cover the overall development of the country, including the elements of state enterprises and local administration agencies. The Second Plan also emphasized the wider distribution of development benefits, particularly to the impoverished rural areas. About 70-80 percent of the development budget was invested in the rural development projects. Apart form the development programmes of different ministries, there were special additional projects, such as the Provincial Development project, the Accelerated Rural Development Project, and the Assistance Project for Farmers. A major strategy of the Second Plan was the general consolidation of the economic structure.
Results
The economic growth under the Second Plan was lower than that of the First Plan, but was still at a high rate of 7.5 percent per annum. This slightly slower growth was the result of the first economic recession by the end of the Second Plan, after 10 years of expansion. The recession was mainly caused by changes in global economic situation. For example, the structure of demand in the world markets had changed; consequently, prices of agricultural goods, especially rice and rubber were unfavourably affected. In addition, the military expenditure of the USA in Thailand had been reduced and foreign investment had diminished.
In regard to per capita income, there was a widening of the gap in income between the different groups of earners and the different parts of the country. The number of families in rural areas who earned less than 1,000 Baht per year, especially in the northeast, whose income rose from 43 percent in 1961 to 45 percent in 1966, while poor families in the central and eastern regions decreased from 19 percent to 10 percent in the same period.
These income disparities were partly resulted from the policy of construction and reparation of basic economic structures during the First and the Second Plans. This development helped increase production capacity of the country. However, the number of beneficiaries was limited as the people in the vicinity of public facilities benefitted much more than those living further away. These inequalities of people to access the public services and investments had widened the income gap among them.
With respect to the operations of the economic structure development, basic services were widely expanded by the end of the Second Plan. From 1961 to 1971, electric power production rose from 457 megawatt to 1,169 megawatt, the overall highways of the country increased by 38 percent from 8,498 km. to 11,761 km., and the irrigated areas expanded from 9.7 million rai to 13.3 million rai.
--National Economic and Social Development Board, Office of the Prime Minister--
The Second Plan was formulated to be consistent with the development policies during the previous 6 years and was largely a continuation of the First Plan. However, the scope of its objectives was expanded to cover the overall development of the country, including the elements of state enterprises and local administration agencies. The Second Plan also emphasized the wider distribution of development benefits, particularly to the impoverished rural areas. About 70-80 percent of the development budget was invested in the rural development projects. Apart form the development programmes of different ministries, there were special additional projects, such as the Provincial Development project, the Accelerated Rural Development Project, and the Assistance Project for Farmers. A major strategy of the Second Plan was the general consolidation of the economic structure.
Results
The economic growth under the Second Plan was lower than that of the First Plan, but was still at a high rate of 7.5 percent per annum. This slightly slower growth was the result of the first economic recession by the end of the Second Plan, after 10 years of expansion. The recession was mainly caused by changes in global economic situation. For example, the structure of demand in the world markets had changed; consequently, prices of agricultural goods, especially rice and rubber were unfavourably affected. In addition, the military expenditure of the USA in Thailand had been reduced and foreign investment had diminished.
In regard to per capita income, there was a widening of the gap in income between the different groups of earners and the different parts of the country. The number of families in rural areas who earned less than 1,000 Baht per year, especially in the northeast, whose income rose from 43 percent in 1961 to 45 percent in 1966, while poor families in the central and eastern regions decreased from 19 percent to 10 percent in the same period.
These income disparities were partly resulted from the policy of construction and reparation of basic economic structures during the First and the Second Plans. This development helped increase production capacity of the country. However, the number of beneficiaries was limited as the people in the vicinity of public facilities benefitted much more than those living further away. These inequalities of people to access the public services and investments had widened the income gap among them.
With respect to the operations of the economic structure development, basic services were widely expanded by the end of the Second Plan. From 1961 to 1971, electric power production rose from 457 megawatt to 1,169 megawatt, the overall highways of the country increased by 38 percent from 8,498 km. to 11,761 km., and the irrigated areas expanded from 9.7 million rai to 13.3 million rai.
--National Economic and Social Development Board, Office of the Prime Minister--