After running the country for more than three years, it appears the military regime is beginning to understand the problems with the Thai economy.
From making a strong defence of its economic performance over the past years, supported by GDP and export figures, the regime, through deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak, admitted over the weekend problems remain in some key areas which are hindering efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. This is the first time a senior figure of the regime has admitted this.
No one denies that the macro economic outlook is promising. In the latest figures released on Monday, GDP in the third quarter of this year grew by more than expected at 4.3% and is expected to reach 3.9% for the whole year, with 4.1% growth likely next year. But, it is strange that people on the ground still complain about bread-and-butter problems.
Soonruth Bunyamanee is deputy editor, Bangkok Post.
Therefore, it's a good sign that Mr Somkid acknowledged the issues. In his speech at the annual meeting of the nationwide chambers of commerce on Sunday, the deputy prime minister admitted that while economic figures have improved, there remain big challenges in the Thai economy, in particular inequality and income disparity.
The Thai economy has bottomed out and been recovering, but, in his own words, local economies remain in difficulty, he said.
"The challenge is poverty coupled with income disparity. And normally when there are improvements in the poverty situation, they are observed at the upper level first before expanding to the grassroots level," he noted.
Past governments have failed to tackle economic inequality and income disparity. Like its predecessors, the regime has focused on economic growth figures, rather than inequality and disparity.
It's good to hear the country's economic czar mention these issues and vow to deal with them.
The deputy prime minister said he would propose the cabinet relax some regulations to allow local administration organisations to spend 100 billion baht of their cumulative funds to spur local economies on promoting tourism and development projects with the aim of creating new jobs and boosting spending.
Even though questions remain as to whether local administration organisation projects will be productive or efficient, it is a good idea to boost grassroots incomes through job creation.
I don't know if this policy is part of Mr Somkid's promise that there will be no poor people in Thailand next year -- rhetoric which has been much ridiculed -- but job creation is much better than other economic stimulus policies initiated by the regime, particularly the 200-300 baht monthly handouts via state welfare cards issued to the 11 million people registered as poor.
The government has claimed that the welfare card scheme is aimed at reducing income disparity. This is not true.
Those card holders are required to use the money to buy consumer products from designated shops. This means the state's money, between 2.2 and 3.3 billion baht, is transferred to business operators and shop owners.
How this can abate the income gap? Not to mention doubts as to whether or not all those 11 million people really qualify for their welfare cards.
The ongoing package of tax incentives for shoppers, who are allowed to deduct up to 15,000 baht of taxable income from the value of goods and services they buy, is also dubious. Who benefits most from this policy?
The policy will boost spending during the period in which it is implemented, but people may take this opportunity to stock up on goods and products now and then reduce their spending accordingly when the incentive ends.
These people are borrowing from future earnings in order to reap the benefits of the tax incentive. So, ultimately, I'm not sure that the economic benefits of this project will be as great as claimed.
It seems, then, that low earners will be less likely to benefit from this scheme.
Those who will definitely welcome the spending spree are business operators and stores. There are reports that some of them have taken the opportunity to hike prices of goods ahead of the scheme which was implemented particularly for the festive season.
So this policy will not help reduce disparity.
As the government, or at least Mr Somkid, is aware of the core problems, I hope their economic policy will focus not only on the quantity but also the quality of growth to facilitate a reduction in economic inequality and disparity.