The new cabinet at its first official meeting on Wednesday approved several measures intended to boost the economy - lower electricity and diesel prices, a visa-free scheme for two countries, a farm debt moratorium and fortnightly salaries for government officials.
After the meeting at Government House, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the visa-free scheme would operate from Sept 25 to Feb 29 next year for visitors from China and Kazakhstan.
"It means that visitors from both these countries will not have to apply for visas before arriving in the country... The scheme will be temporary, so its impact can be assessed," the prime minister said.
Mr Srettha said Kazakhstan was added because its winter was extremely cold and arrivals from there were increasing.
The three-year debt moratorium would benefit farmers and small businesses, he said.
The cabinet also resolved that government officials be paid fortnightly instead of monthly from Jan 1 next year.
"This will specifically save junior government officials from depending on loans, because they will not have to wait so long for their salaries," Mr Srettha said.
Many regulations would have to be amended to support the pay-day change, so it could not begin right away, he said. It was set to start in January next year.
The cabinet resolved to reduce the power tariff from 4.45 baht per unit to 4.10 baht from this month onwards. "I think the decrease is bigger than expected," the prime minister said.
The cabinet would also keep the pump price of standard diesel below 30 baht per litre from Sept 20, because diesel was important to the transport sector, he said. On Wednesday the B7 diesel price was 31.94 baht per litre in Bangkok.
A means to help drivers of petrol vehicles had still to be worked out. Mr Srettha said it would help only those who were really in trouble.
