The government's latest stimulus package has the potential to spur economic growth since it is designed to break down barriers to business and investment rather than just boost tepid domestic consumption, says the central bank.
Mathee Supapongse, the senior director for macroeconomic and monetary policy, said the new measures are also aimed at accelerating disbursement of the fiscal 2013 budget.
Whether the package can actually boost gross domestic product growth by one percentage point as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong claims has yet to be evaluated, he said.
But he agreed the hope is it can help to boost this year's economic growth to 5% instead of the 4% projected.
The cabinet on Tuesday gave the nod to the new stimulus packages amid signs of an economic slowdown.
Mr Mathee denied the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure development plan and the 350-billion-baht water management project would severely curtail economic growth if approved by parliament since spending would be gradual.
As for speculation the US Federal Reserve could start tapering its stimulus programme as early as next month, such a move would not result in excessive volatility, as markets have mostly factored in the halting of the measure, he said.
Manapol Poosomboon, the Federation of Thai Industries' vice-chairman for small and medium-sized enterprises, said SMEs would benefit less than large firms from these measures but agreed the economy needs a boost at some point.
"SMEs generally don't consume a lot of energy, so financial support for energy saving measures are not likely to benefit them very much. Large business operators will enjoy that the most," he said.
As well, SMEs do not have huge numbers of staff, so their training budgets are not big, said Mr Manapol.
"However, the economy does need a stimulus at this stage, and this package will help to spur public spending and sales," he said.
"But the big problem right now for SMEs is rising costs due mainly to higher wages, and they do want assistance in this regard."
Wages have risen with no corresponding increase in efficiency, so SMEs are struggling with low profitability, said Mr Manapol.
In the end, large companies will find themselves in trouble if higher costs sink their small suppliers, he added.