DHAKA: Thailand’s ruling military laid out its economic priorities on Sunday, telling financial officials from the public and private sectors that it wanted to quickly pay farmers money owed under a failed subsidy scheme and work out a budget for 2015.

The army has consolidated its power since ousting the government on Thursday, detaining scores of politicians and activists whose rivalry has bedevilled the country for years, and trying to stamp out criticism with censorship and a ban on protests that an increasing number of people have defied.

On Sunday, the focus was on fixing an economy that even before the coup was stumbling into recession.

‘The economy needs to recover. If there is something wrong, we have to find quick solutions,’ Thawatchai Yongkittikul, secretary general of the Thai Bankers’ Association, told reporters, citing coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who summoned up to 60 officials to the meeting.

‘The burning issues that need to be solved are the rice buying scheme and the budget plan for the 2015 fiscal year,’ Thawatchai said, reports The Straits Times.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy shrank 2.1 percent in the first quarter of the year and there is little prospect of a quick improvement.

BDST: 2114 HRS, MAY 25, 2014