EEC Project Could Induce 5% GDP Growth

BANGKOK, Feb 19 (TNA) -- Kanit Saengsubhan, Secretary General of the Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand stated that the national economy during the latter half of the year will be able to grow by 5 per cent after the EEC bill was approved from the Natianal Legislative Assembly. He said the Board of Investment (BoI) backed up this claim by saying that it expects that potential investment in the EEC will exceed 300 billion baht helping to achieve the 5 per cent improvement later in year. Mr Kanit says that this will represent a more realistic picture of the potential of the Thai economy. When the EEC comes fully on line, the total investments by both by the state and private sector in the next five years will exceed 1.7 trillion baht which will easily help the economy sustain 5 per cent growth. In the past, GDP never outgrew 3 per cent which did not accurately reflect the country's latency. On top of this Mr Kanit also revealed that the EEC was also coordinating with technical colleges in the eastern provinces to set up specific syllabuses to supply skilled workforce which will be needed in the EEC. Currently, these colleges put out on average about 300 skilled workers annually but the EEC wants to see this increased to 6,000 per year. Statistics indicated that there is at present more than 50,000 shortage of skilled manpower in the region. (TNA)