Higher operating and financial costs mean many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are in desperate need of new government measures to help them survive, says the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
A new economic stimulus package is among the pressing issues awaiting the new government once one forms, said Apichit Prasoprat, vice-chairman of the FTI.
"SMEs have been weakened since the pandemic. Many of them have no liquidity because they can't easily borrow money from banks, which are following stricter loan criteria," he said.
The constrained access to funding is happening as SMEs face higher daily minimum wages, expensive electricity bills and costly raw materials.
SMEs cannot generate healthy revenue because the domestic economy has not fully recovered and Thailand has reported sluggish export figures for nine months, said Mr Apichit.
According to Commerce Ministry data, the customs-cleared value of exports dipped for a ninth consecutive month in June, falling by 6.4% to US$24.8 billion.
The FTI is also worried about higher interest rates, which increase financial costs for SMEs. The Bank of Thailand's future stance on rate hikes is unknown.
On Aug 2, the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to raise the policy rate for a seventh consecutive meeting by 0.25 percentage points from 2% to 2.25%, the highest level in nine years.
"If the MPC keeps this rate unchanged, it will be good for many businesses in the long term," said Mr Apichit.
According to the FTI, many SMEs also face fierce competition as more consumer and industrial products from China are imported into the country.
"Online shopping platforms facilitate the import of goods from China and purchases are increasing," he said.
"The new government should pay attention to this issue and launch new measures to protect Thai SMEs."
The Thai economy is being mainly driven by the tourism recovery following the full reopening in July 2022, but not all businesses are improving, said Mr Apichit.
Only certain groups of SMEs benefit from greater tourism activities, he said.
"Other SMEs find it difficult to survive as the domestic economy is not fully healthy and the global economy is sluggish," said Mr Apichit.