Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva warned on Tuesday the country's economy could slide into recession, as he finally delivered a maiden policy speech that had been postponed after demonstrators blockaded parliament.
Underlying the problems facing his new government, Thailand's fourth prime minister of 2008 was forced to make his speech at the Foreign Ministry rather than parliament, which was picketed by red-shirted protesters for a second day.
Abhisit, who was elected in a parliamentary vote two weeks ago, had to deliver the speech before his government could formally start work on measures to try to revive an economy battered by the country's protracted political crisis.
Hundreds of red-shirted supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra moved to the ministry after news spread that Abhisit was there.
Riot police beefed up security but there were no clashes, and the demonstrators later abandoned the siege and the prime minister was able to leave shortly afterwards.
In a speech carried live on television, Abhisit referred to the political crisis that has paralysed policy-making, culminating in an airport blockade by anti-Thaksin demonstrators at the turn of the month that crippled tourism.
"Political conflicts that have spread to civic groups could push the economy, along with the tourism industry, into recession if action is not taken quickly to resolve them and revive confidence among investors and foreign tourists," he said.
"These conflicts are the country's weakness, especially at a time the world economy is entering its worst crisis in a century," he added, also warning that unemployment could double.
New export figures showed plunging demand for the country's goods due to the weak global economy. Thailand's economy is likely to contract this quarter and may slide into recession in 2009, economists say.
Ministers argued that, constitutionally, the speech did not have to be given in parliament and Buranaj Smutharaks, a spokesman for Abhisit's Democrat Party, said there were enough lawmakers present at the ministry for a quorum.
The demonstrators, angry at the dismissal of a pro-Thaksin government by the courts this month, had already forced the cancellation of the speech on Monday.
AVOID BLOODSHED
Buranaj said Abhisit's main concern was to avoid a repeat of the bloody clashes around parliament in October between police and the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), protesting against the pro-Thaksin government in power then.
Two people died and hundreds were injured in those clashes.
Satit Wongnongtaey, a minister charged with relations with the media, told reporters: "Our checks with the law say it is not entirely necessary to make the policy statement only in parliament."
The venue had been changed "due to this unavoidable and abnormal situation", he added.
The red-shirted supporters of Thaksin, ousted by the military in 2006, had spent the night outside the gates of parliament, vowing to stay until Abhisit called fresh elections.
The political impasse, which began three years ago when yellow-shirted PAD protesters led by Bangkok's royalist and business elite triggered Thaksin's removal in the 2006 coup, shows no sign of being resolved anytime soon.
Supporters of the exiled Thaksin accuse Abhisit of "stealing" power with the aid of the military, which they say pushed smaller parties to join his coalition two weeks ago, a charge he denies.
