The fact that much of Thailand’s real economy is off the books can at times and depending on how it is presented, make the economic devastation wrought by the crisis appear less serious.
The real impact can be gleaned from human stories from the economy on the streets.
A case and point is the Thai taxi industry and transport sector.
This year, we have already seen a spate of suicides by taxi drivers who simply cannot make ends meet because of this downturn.
The scale of this economic crisis can only be fully appreciated from such harrowing stories on the ground as millions of people in Thailand without a social security safety net and often with chronic debt problems have been left in appalling, inhumane and impossible situations.
Addressing this, on Monday, Mananya Thaiset, the Bhumjaithai Party Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives was on hand to launch a scheme to support nearly 51 thousand taxi drivers who are members of 59 taxi co-operatives.
The current situation has left taxi drivers in the kingdom facing a 50% shortfall in their incomes and has already seen thousands of taxis seeking car parking spaces in Bangkok and adjacent provinces as drivers simply throw in the towel.
On Monday, Minister Mananya revealed efforts to support the drivers working in cooperatives across the Greater Bangkok area including the distribution of food parcel baskets with food and fruit as well as help with negotiating bank repayments on 19,555 taxis operated by the groups.
A total of 5,000 have already been parked in state and semi-state facilities throughout the metropolis in government and public utility offices and car parks as part of the minister’s assistance to the cooperative members. (continues)
The minister was told that drivers can only earn up to ฿300 a day if they are lucky and this only pays for fuel and some food leaving no money to make payments on cars, pay for rent, other essentials and to take care of their family, at this time.
Taxi drivers with debt commitments or short term accommodation cannot survive in this climate.
This was the story of 53-year-old taxi driver Chamnian Chaisawan who took his life in his taxi as he simply could not afford to go on and was being bullied by debt collectors.
The minister, on Monday, alluded to efforts to bring the workers into the social security system but for now, they are only eligible for once-off government support payments where applicable.- Thai Examiner
