Most people support the government's plan to invest 2 trillion baht in infrastructure development but 70% are worried about the impact on public debt, Abac Poll said on Saturday.
The pollsters at Assumption University based the conclusion on interviews conducted from March 25-29 with 2,037 people aged 18 and over in 17 provinces.
Asked about the strong points of the investment plan, 66.2% of the respondents said it would help develop the country. Fourteen percent said they believed the transport system would be better, 7.4% said the economy would improve, 6.6% said living standards of people would be better, and the remainder expected better social welfare would be provided.
Asked about possible disadvantages of the spending plan, 70.1% were concerned that it would create a bigger public debt burden, and 15.6% said it would lead to more corruption problems. As well, 5.5% said people would be in debt to serve the demands of politicians, 4.4% said the cost of living would rise, 2.9% said the investment was not worthwhile, and the rest said the economy would worsen and there could be social problems.
Asked which party they trusted for transparency in budget spending, the Democrats or Pheu Thai, 38% said they trusted Pheu Thai, 29.1% supported the Democrats and 32.9% had no opinion.
Ninety percent of the respondents wanted economists, financial experts to do an analysis on the loan plan and tell the public how much the repayments would cost per month.
A total of 91.4% wanted also wanted a breakdown in detail of the acquired loans.
Asked about the performance of the opposition parties in the recent debate on the loan bill, 51.9% thought the opposition opposed the bill for political gains and 48.1% believed the opposition was protecting the country's interest.