Majority of Thais think economy will get worse – NIDA Poll

A recent poll has indicated that a majority of Thai respondents think that the economy will get worse this year, along with a continued unrest surrounding the political landscape.

The survey by the National Institute of Development Administration was conducted December 24-25 on 1,326 people, aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations nationwide by random sampling over the phone, with a reliability percentage of 97%.

About 42% believe that the political situation in 2021 would continue to be just as chaotic as before, with about 35% believing it would worsen and around 15% believing it would get better.

Just over half of the respondents, around 54% say Thailand’s current PM would remain in power, with around 13% believing that there will be some cabinet reshuffles. Around only 8% believed parliament would be dissolved and a new election called, with almost the same amount believing that the current PM would resign. Only 2% believed PM Prayut would lose his post in a political case with with an even lower percentage, about 1.7% believing a coup would occur.

43% believed the People’s Group would continue to hold anti-government demonstrations, however, 23% thought the group would become weaker. About 14% believed it would be exhausted to an end. Only a mere 11% said it would be able to raise the demonstrations to a higher level and 9% had no comment or were not interested.

Around 52% responded that they believed the economy would get worse with 32% believing it would remain unchanged. 15% say the economy would improve.

After the recent spike in Covid cases, or a 2nd wave, about 48% believe the pandemic would get more serious, with around 29% saying the virus would become less contagious. And, only about 22% believe the pandemic levels would stay the same.

Such a poll is indicative of the nationwide sentiment surrounding the new outbreak as more and more provinces are seeing local infections on the rise.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post