Thais satisfied with government’s first-year performance

BANGKOK, August 24 (TNA) - A latest opinion survey on the public satisfaction with the Pheu Thai Party-led government’s first-year performance, with the general public and local business operators having randomly interviewed, found that the government passed the respondents’ evaluation with 7.63 points on average out of total 10 scores for its overall work. Thanawat Polvichai, Director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre, under Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, told a press conference on Thursday that most of the respondents were satisfied with the Pheu Thai Party-led administration's economic stimulus policies, as they could cope with the ongoing economic crisis in the European Union (EU) and negative impacts from a massive flooding in the country late last year. Thanawat said the respondents were most impressed with the incumbent government’s tourism promotion and preparation for the formation of the Single Economic Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015, acknowledging, however, that the respondents were hardly pleased with the Pheu Thai Party-led administration's political and social affairs and even expressed their dissatisfaction with the government's political administration. According to the director, most people surveyed gave the Pheu Thai Party-led government 5.32 points for policy implementation, 4.99 points for corruption solutions and 4.86 points for its project to distribute tablet computers to first-grade students, but most business operators surveyed gave the government 7.17 points for education and tourism promotion, 6.71 points for policy implementation, 4.66 points for corruption solutions, 5.02 points for narcotic suppression and 5.90 points for solutions to expensive raw materials. The centre's chief suggested that the Thai government speed up its investment in infrastructure and water management mega-investment projects in its second-year work to further stimulate the national economy. (TNA)