The centre’s survey was conducted among 1,580 people earning less than Bt15,000 per month.

Some 51.3 per cent of respondents were freelance individuals, including retailers and those involved in agriculture, 25.4 per cent were salaried office workers, and 21.3 per cent were daily-wage workers.

The sample was split 52.5 per cent/47.5 per cent between women and men, with 76.3 per cent of respondents aged 26-45, around 13.3 per cent aged 20-25, and 10.4 per cent aged over 45.

GSB’s president and chief executive officer, Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, said the bank had decided to conduct its first GSI survey because it needed to ascertain the behaviour and opinion of grass-roots people and their level of confidence in the economy.

The bank will use the results as a tool to design products that match their demand, while it will also propose to the government that it be used as a data-base to make decisions on the introduction of financial packages that directly support the needs of the grass-roots segment of society, he said.

According to the survey, up to 76.6 per cent low-income earners benefited from the government’s measure to speed up the provision of a budget of Bt5 million per tambon, 72.9 per cent from the budget for victims of natural disasters in 2012-2014, and 71.7 per cent from village-fund loans measure.

However, while grass-roots people benefited from the government’s stimulus package to support them, most continued to be concerned about the state of the economy, with a GSI of just 44.9 points for April – well below the 50-point “optimism” mark.

This was out of concern about the economy still not recovering due to the drought, which has impacted on all agricultural products, with prices rising as a consequence, Chatchai explained.

This in turn impacts their cost of living, even though the inflation rate is still below 2 per cent.

“Although the rate of inflation had been in negative territory until April, it came in at plus 0.07 per cent that month. While this was the first positive number for 16 months, but those at the grass roots continued to believe that the prices of consumer and agricultural products were still rising when compared with their income,” he said.

However, 42.2 per cent of those surveyed believed that the economy would recover by the end of next year, and 30.8 per cent “had confidence” in its recovery during 2017, while 27 per cent believed that the economy would recover in the second half of this year, the bank’s chief said.

The bank will submit its GSI research results for the Finance Ministry and the government to use when considering measures that match the grass-roots’ needs.

For example, the latest measure to reduce the problem of low-income individuals using the services of loan sharks could come from the survey of what the grass-roots sector views as its main problems, he said.

The GSB has also developed its card system to include the use of a cash-payment card, enabling people to use plastic to reduce the amount of cash they use for purchases.

This also forms part of the move to the e-payment system in June.

“We set up the research centre early this year and plan to announce the research results [into grass-roots behaviour and needs] every month. This will be a tool for the government to manage the policy for grass-roots people,” Chatchai said.

Meanwhile, the GSB Research Centre forecasts Thai economic growth of 3.2 per cent this year, with a first-half year-on-year growth estimate of 3 per cent, and predicted expansion of 3.5 per cent in the second half, he added.