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 Thailand has been in crisis since November, when Bangkok's middle
class and the royalist establishment started a protest aimed at
eradicating the influence of Yingluck's brother Thaksin, a populist
former premier ousted by the army in 2006 who is seen as the power
behind her government.
Data published on Monday showed the economy grew just 0.6 percent in
the fourth quarter from the third and, with the country likely to be
without a fully functioning government for months, the state
planning board slashed its forecast for 2014.
About 10,000 anti-government demonstrators surrounded Government
House in Bangkok, taking back control of a road the police had
cleared them from on Friday in the first real sign of a pushback by
the authorities after months of protests.
These protesters view Yingluck as a proxy for Thaksin, who has lived
in exile since 2008 rather than face a jail term for abuse of power
handed down in absentia that year.
"We will use quick-dry cement to close the gates of Government House
so that the cabinet cannot go in to work," said Nittitorn Lamrue of
the Network of Students and People for Thailand's Reform, aligned
with the main protest movement.
It was a symbolic gesture, Yingluck having been forced to work
elsewhere since January.
The separate protests by rice farmers could turn out to be more
damaging for Yingluck.
Rural voters swept her to power in 2011, when her Puea Thai Party
pledged to pay rice farmers way above market prices for their
harvest. But the program has run into funding problems and some
farmers have not been paid for months.
"END OF OUR TETHER"
Television showed farmers climbing over barbed wire fences and
barriers at a Defense Ministry compound where Yingluck has set up
temporary offices. They pushed back riot police, who retreated from
confrontation, but did not enter the building.
"The prime minister is well off but we are not. How are we going to
feed our children? I want her to think about us," said one
protesting farmer. "Farmers are tough people, they wouldn't normally
speak out but they are at the end of their tether."
Farmers' representatives later met ministers, but when Finance
Minister Kittirat Na Ranong came out to speak to the crowd he was
pelted with plastic bottles.
The government hopes to sell about 1 million tons of rice through
tenders this month to replenish its rice fund and is also seeking
bank loans to help it pay the farmers.
The Government Savings Bank said on Sunday it had lent 5 billion
baht ($153 million) to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural
Cooperatives (BAAC), which runs the rice scheme.
It did not say what the money would be used for, but some
depositors, apparently hearing on social media that it would be used
for the rice payments and would therefore help the government, took
their money from the bank on Monday.
"Today the bank's clients took out around 30 billion baht. Most
clients who withdrew were in Bangkok and the south. Around 10
billion baht was deposited. This doesn't impact the stability of the
bank," Worawit Chalimpamontri, president of the savings bank, told a
televised news conference.
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He said there would be no more interbank lending to the BAAC because
the loan was "misused". He did not elaborate.
The 30 billion baht withdrawn represents about 1.6 percent of total
deposits, according to Reuters calculations.
DISRUPTED ELECTION
Yingluck called a snap election in December and has since led a
caretaker administration with only limited powers.
The election took place on February 2 but it was disrupted in parts
of Bangkok and the south, the powerbase of the opposition, and it
may be many months before there is a quorum in parliament to elect a
new prime minister.
The Election Commission has set April 27 as the date to re-run
voting that was disrupted but the government said on Monday it
wanted the much earlier date of March 2.
"According to the law, the House of Representatives must convene 30
days after a general election," Pongthep Thepkanjana, a deputy prime
minister, said after a meeting between the commission and
government.
That date seems improbable, especially as the commission and
government can't agree on procedures for fresh voting and the
Constitutional Court may be asked to rule.
The anti-government protesters, who are aligned with the main
opposition Democrat Party, want electoral rules changed to limit
Thaksin's influence before an election is held, although their
precise demands remain vague.
They accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used
taxpayers' money for generous subsidies and easy loans that have
bought him the loyalty of millions of poorer voters in the north and
northeast.
Consumer confidence sank in January to its lowest level in more than
two years and, with big infrastructure projects on hold because of
the political vacuum, the planning agency cut its forecast for
economic growth in 2014 to between 3.0 and 4.0 percent from 4.0-5.0
percent seen in November.
"Confidence is low and private sector demand in the domestic economy
remains weak given the political deadlock," said Gundy Cahyadi, an
economist with DBS Bank in Singapore.
($1 = 32.5900 baht)
(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Athit Perawongmetha
and Orathai Sriring; writing by Alan Raybould; editing by Alex
Richardson and Robert Birsel)
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