Finance ministry to consider incentives to stimulate shopping, retail sector

Thailand’s finance minister says his ministry is ready to consider retailers’ proposals for tax breaks on shopping to stimulate domestic spending. The ministry has assigned related agencies, including the Fiscal Policy Office, the Revenue Department and the Excise Department, to examine the possibilities, Uttama Savanayana said yesterday. His remarks come after retailers asked the government to apply a shopping tax break similar to the one used in 2015-16, this time raising the cap on claimed value from 30,000 to 50,000 baht per shopper.

“We need to consider in detail what are the problems and what are appropriate measures. We’ve launched relief measures, and the domestic tourism-boosting package is the latest example.”

The CEO of Siam Piwat, which operates Siam Paragon, Siam Centre and Iconsiam, says the government should come up with measures to motivate people to get out of the house and spend more, and the measures should be arranged for a longer period of 3-6 months to give people more time to go shopping.

“The government has already launched a host of measures to remedy many sectors, but any measures for the retail sector are yet to be declared or made available.”

The president of department store giant Robinsons says the company would like the government to launch a shopping stimulus package for the retail market as soon as possible, citing the difficulty of relying on local consumption.

“Measures or shopping incentives, if provided, will help stimulate people to spend more in the country. Without any aid or stimulus measures, rising unemployment is anticipated, aggravating a retail business already hard hit by the deadly virus.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post