Southern Thai economy not to be seriously affected by storm Pabuk

BANGKOK, January 4 (TNA) - The Center for Economic and Business Forecasting Center, under Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), says the powerful tropical storm Pabuk that is striking the Thai South should not seriously affect the economy of the region, thanks to its short-term impacts. The center's director, Dr.Thanawat Phonvichai, assessed on Friday that due to the short-term impacts of only 3-5 days of the Pabuk storm, it should not seriously affect the general economy of the Thai South in the first quarter of this year. Dr.Thanawat projected, however, that the Pabuk storm should cause a total damage of 3-5 billion baht to the economy in the southern Thai region in terms of a temporary suspension of local tourism and other economic activities. Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Energy, in conjunction with the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and petroleum firms, confirmed that well-prepared measures have been put in good place to ensure sufficient fuel and cooking gas supply in the Thai South to meet the market demand during the 3-5 day-period when there is a drop in the production of crude oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand due to a temporary shutdown of some offshore oil and natural gas sources for the sake of workers' safety. According to a ministerial statement, the well-prepared measures include contingent contracts with Lao PDR and Malaysia to buy more electricity from the neighboring countries in case of any emergency and an integrated move on non-stop deliveries of fuel and gas products of all types from central depots to the southern region during the storm-hit period, apart from the full-scale reserve of fuel and gas at local depots. (TNA)