Plans get vote of confidence

       Local analysts have mixed views on whether the government's second stimulus package will be able to meet its timetable.
       About 48% of the analysts surveyed by the Securities Analysts Association (SAA) expressed confidence that the "Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength" programme would meet its 2012 timetable, with another 4% expressing strong confidence.
       But 43% said they were only cautiously optimistic, with 4% expressing no confidence. The SAA sampled views of 23 analysts following a briefing earlier this month on the stimulus programme by Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij.
       More optimistically, 91% said they were confident about the overall programme, with 9% expressing strong confidence.
       The 1.45-trillion-baht programme, also known as Thai Khem Kaeng , covers thousands of infrastructure projects aimed at stimulating short-term economic growth and supporting productivity and efficiency gains in the medium term.Projects include new light-rail mass transit systems in Bangkok, irrigation, road and rail improvements nationwide, and the expansion and improvement of health and education facilities across the country.
       More than one-third of the analysts said they were very confident that the stimulus would result in higher private investment, with another 65% expressing moderate confidence.
       Some 78% of the analysts in the survey also expressed confidence that Thai Khem Kaeng would support the economic recovery, with another 22% offering strong confidence.
       Seventy percent said they were moderately or very confident that the stimulus programme would help support political stability, with only 22% saying the investments would have little impact and 4% seeing no impact on stability. Analysts were also overwhelmingly optimistic at 90% that the government could raise the funds to finance the programme.