BANGKOK- Thailand’s unemployment rate hit a more than 16-year high in the third quarter, as tougher coronavirus restrictions hit economic activity and jobs, the state planning agency said on Monday.
The curbs were eased from September, however, and the Southeast Asian country earlier this month reopened to vaccinated foreign visitors without quarantine requirements, in a bid to restart its important tourism sector.
The unemployment rate jumped to 2.25 percent in the September quarter, representing 870,000 workers without jobs, from 1.89 percent in the previous three months, the agency said in a statement.
The jobless rate was 2.52 percent in the first quarter of 2005.
Thailand’s definition of unemployed is quite narrow, including only those who do not work a single hour in a surveyed week. It excludes owners of businesses or farms, while analysts note it does not catch the significant unofficial economy.
Earlier, the central bank said jobless numbers were expected at 3.4 million at the end of 2021.
In the third quarter, overall employment dropped 0.6 percent from a year earlier to 37.7 million workers, with the hotel/restaurant and construction sectors losing the most jobs, it said.
The strict COVID-19 measures had a significant impact on the labor market,” DanuchaPichayanan, head of the National Economic and Social Development Council, told a news conference.
The easing of curbs and the reopening should increase employment in tourism, but the country will need more measures to help businesses with jobs, he said.
Last week, the planning agency predicted 200,000 foreign tourists this year, and 5 million visitors next year. That compared with 40 million foreign arrivals in 2019.
Thailand’s central bank has allowed debt consolidation across financial institutions to help retail debtors pay lower interest rates, an official said on Monday, as policymakers try to ease the impact of coronavirus outbreaks.
Debtors can combine their unsecured debt with home loans at different banks, rather than at the same lenders as previously, Suwannee Jatsadasak, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT), told a news conference.
Banks are allowed to charge interest rates on such consolidated unsecured loans, such as credit card and personal loans, not exceeding mortgage rates plus 2 percent per year, or totaling about 8 percent currently, she said.
That compared with interest rates on credit card and personal loans of 16 percent and 25 percent per year, respectively.
Banks are not allowed to collect prepayment fees until the end of 2023, Suwannee said.
The central bank has relaxed rules on banks’ debt classification, reserve requirements and capital levels to reduce costs for lenders that help with the debt consolidation scheme by the end of 2023, she added.
The debt consolidation is among a series of financial measures to help debtors and businesses.
“The measures that the BOT has implemented will enable financial institutions to continue functioning and banks to lend,” Suwannee said.
In the third quarter, banks’ overall loans grew 5.6 percent year-on-year, up from a 3.7 percent rise in the previous quarter, as demand from businesses rose along with economic recovery.
