Private sector and academics see changing the prime minister as having short-term economic impacts

Academics and the private sector stated that if the Constitutional Court's decision shows that Prime Minister Settha will continue or be disqualified, they do not want to see the House of Representatives dissolved. However, political parties must bring in candidates for prime minister and accelerate the implementation of all approaches to see tangible results, especially digital wallets and the unity of policies must be clearer. Mr. Thanawat Polvichai, President of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center, talked about the Constitutional Court's decision on the Prime Minister. If he can continue, Prime Minister Settha will have to accelerate all approaches to be tangible in order to restore confidence in trade and investment, including various approaches that are still pending to see results quickly, especially the digital wallet measure to reduce the cost of living for the people. However, if the Prime Minister is disq ualified and cannot continue, we will have to see what the Deputy Prime Minister acting as caretaker will do. However, if the Deputy Prime Minister acting as caretaker can dissolve the House of Representatives, it is seen that it will not be beneficial to the Pheu Thai Party and the coalition parties at this time. In this regard, it is believed that the core party, Pheu Thai, may have to select two candidates for prime minister to become the new prime minister to preserve the rights of the digital wallet project and other policies to continue moving forward, so that the economy can move forward and not stop, which will be very beneficial to Pheu Thai and the coalition parties without having to dissolve parliament for a new election, which will slow down the Thai economy for another year. Therefore, it is believed that if there is no change in Prime Minister Settha, the Thai economy will grow after the digital wallet project occurs at the end of the year at 2.6-2.8 percent and in 2025 at 3.2-3.5 percent. Howe ver, if parliament is dissolved and a new election is held, the overall Thai economy will have to be assessed again. Mr. Chaichan Charoensuk, Chairman of the Thai National Shippers' Council (TNSC), said that regardless of whether the Constitutional Court's decision on Prime Minister Settha Thavisin is positive or negative, or whether there is still a caretaker Prime Minister and Cabinet, the overall picture will definitely not affect Thai exports to foreign markets around the world in 2024, because the world market still has a lot of demand for Thai products and there are still continuous purchase orders. Therefore, what the private sector, especially shipping, wants to see is the unity of the government. However, if the government is unified and can continuously implement economic development policies, by linking trade, investment, transportation, and foreign affairs in the same direction, it will make the Thai economy and Thailand will receive more attention from foreign countries. Therefore, it is believ ed that no matter who or which political party comes to govern the country, they must have a plan or strategy to drive Thailand to be the same plan. At present, it cannot be denied that international trade, investment, and transportation are interconnected. Therefore, I would like to ask those who come to administer the country to set guidelines for both the public and private sectors to implement policies in the same direction. -514 Source: Thai News Agency