ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | BANGKOK — Thailand's prime minister said on Friday the government wants to spend 300 billion baht (US $8.7 billion) next year to jump-start the country's ailing economy.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the economic stimulus package would include increased lending from government banks for agriculture projects and direct lending to local governments for infrastructure projects.

The plan must first be approved by Parliament, where Abhisit's coalition has a slim majority.

"The plan will be announced in January and the budget needs to be approved by the Parliament first and it is expected that the money could be injected (into the economy) from March or April," Abhisit told reporters.

The Thai government is desperate to help the country's ailing economy which the Fiscal Policy Office projected this week might grow by only 1 percent next year. It attributed the weak growth next year to a drop in domestic consumption and damage to the export sector from the worsening global economy.

The Federation of Thai Industries on Thursday told The Bangkok Post that it expects 1.1 million employees will lose their jobs by the second quarter of next year as a result of the slowdown.

On top of that, the tourism sector, a key engine of growth, is expected to suffer next year from the global slowdown and lingering effects from the shutdown of Bangkok's two main airports for a week last month by anti-government protesters. The tourism authority estimates the number of tourists will decline over the next six months by 2.5 million, costing the industry 100 billion baht ($3 billion).

Together, these factors could push the economy into a recession.