|
|
| • EXCH RATES |
|
Baht/$ 33.40/43
Bid/Ask
|
GOLD |
13,950
+ 150
|
|
INDUSTRY
VICHAYA PITSUWAN
The Industry Ministry is seeking urgent measures to help small and medium enterprises (SME) overcome business difficulties amid the slowing economy.
According to Industry MInister Suwit Khunkitti, each SME-related department will have to come up with measures to help reduce cost.s
The minister views the rise in energy costs, which have pushed up the prices of raw materials, logistic costs and production costs, as the main challenge to SMEs.
A hotline will be set up to receive requests from SMEs seeking professional advice on cost reduction, he said. Professional personnel from various industries will be outsourced to give advice on cost control.
Many SMEs also have been unable to get loan approvals to finance business improvement or support cash flow management, said Mr Suwit.
One example can be seen in the small number of approvals for the recently launched one-billion-baht soft loan for machinery upgrades by the SME development bank.
In addition, the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (Osmep) has been asked to review its SME support policies.
Osmep normally holds fairs to open market opportunities for SMEs, but the minister views this is as inefficient.
Osmep will have to introduce more sales activities for SME products and the measures should not focus exclusively on fairs.
They need to come up with new market access strategies, Mr Suwit said.
Urgent measures are necessary because there are signs that many SMEs are struggling to stay in business, said Mr Suwit.Factors such as high inflation, rising energy costs, lower consumption from reduced purchasing power, poor investor confidence amid an uncertain political situation and the strong baht have all contributed to SMEs working a lot harder to survive.
Mr Suwit said that SMEs are a main driving force for the economy.
Their inability to survive would create more unemployment, drag national economic growth down and lessen investor confidence in the Thai economy.
The budget has not yet been set for these urgent measures as the minister will finalise proposals from each department on Monday.
Mr Suwit said that after implementation, the measures would be reviewed every three months to determine their effectiveness.
The Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Chamber of Commerce have been assigned to nominate SMEs that need urgent support.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Next
