ZCZC
BCN-04
THAILAND-ECONOMY-POVERTY
Walls close in on Thailand’s poorest as virus shrivels economy
BANGKOK, May 31, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Shuffling around their tiny slum home
which is too small to stand up in, Thanapat Noidee and his wife Papassorn
share donated noodles with their sons and worry about bills, as the
coronavirus pushes Thailand’s poor deeper into penury.
The wood and breeze-block hut which is their home stands in the heart of a
Bangkok commercial district festooned with five-star hotels and upmarket
restaurants.
They share the small space in the shadow of the nearby high-rise
developments with their children Woraphat and Kittipat, aged six and seven
respectively.
Under the 1.2-metre-high (four feet) ceiling, the adults have to kneel to
move around the single room which is the bedroom, living room and dining area.
Downstairs, a tap provides a shower and a flat concrete surface serves as a
kitchen area, a space shared with rats which clamber over their washed dishes.
Papassorn lost her job as a messenger as Thailand locked down to control
the coronavirus in late March.
“I have to borrow money for the electricity from my father and
grandfather,” she says.
“The school term opens again soon (July 1) and I have to find money for
those expenses as well.”
Thailand’s parliament is due Sunday to vote on whether to approve a near-
$60 billion stimulus to revive an economy battered by the pandemic.
If agreed, it will be the biggest state cash injection in Thai history.
Thailand has long paraded low unemployment as a symbol of its economic
success. But millions like the Noidee family rely on informal work or day
wages for survival, jobs imperilled by a feared 6-7 percent contraction in the
economy. Two months after the lockdown and with the outbreak under control,
Bangkok is gradually creeping back to life.
But Papassorn’s work has not returned while her husband has seen the
roughly 1,000 baht ($31) he earns each day as a motorcycle taxi driver more
than halved because of a fall in customers.
The family have depended on the nearby Holy Redeemer Church for daily food
handouts — a charity service which is being closed down as the city reopens.
“Without food donations, I’ll have to fight harder for my family to
survive,” said Thanapat as he moved on his knees inside his lodgings,
occasionally knocking his head on the ceiling.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1025HRS