Thailand's government will inject another 100 billion baht (roughly 2.93 billion USD) over the next few months to prop up the sluggish domestic economy, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced.
The amount is part of a second economic stimulus package worth around 42 billion USD, which will be used to finance infrastructure development projects from 2009 to 2012.
PM Abhisit also said that the second package will help boost private investment and the national economy, which are expected to start growing from the fourth quarter of this year, after contracting in the first three quarters.
The package will create at least 1.5 million jobs, said Abhisit, adding that the ratio of public debt to the country's gross domestic product will fall to 58 percent in 2013 and 50 percent in 2016.
The first economic stimulus package, which totalled 3.3 billion USD and was approved by the Thai Government in January 2009, included many short-term assistant measures for the implementation of vocational training programmes, exemptions for basic education and low-income earners.
It is intended to help people overcome the global financial downturn and boost monetary circulation in the economy./.