In her weekly "Empowering Thais" programme on March 2 morning, the PM said the Southeast Asian country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by only 2.5% last year because it had not invested substantially in new industries and had not prepared the people for future industries over the past decade.
She also urged the private sector to help the government develop the national economy. Paetongtarn said commercial banks should approve loans so that small- and medium-sized enterprises could increase their investment.
The leader said that budgetary constraints were also a cause of slow GDP growth because most of the national budget was spent on the government's fixed expenditure.
She said the government is trying to contain fixed payments, keep the remaining budget for investment and attract foreign investment.
Last year, foreign investors poured 1.13 trillion THB (33 billion USD) in projects in Thailand – the highest in a decade – and this year Google, TikTok and Nvidia would invest in the country, the PM said./.
