DHAKA: Thailand’s junta has appointed as advisers two retired generals with palace connections, putting powerful establishment figures hostile towards former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra firmly in the ascendant in the country’s long-running power struggle.

Hoping to show things are getting back to normal, the military has also relaxed a night-time curfew brought in after it seized power in a May 22 coup, and is expected to speed up efforts to get the economy moving again after months of debilitating political protests.

Data on Wednesday showed factory output fell 3.9 percent in April from a year earlier, the 13th monthly drop in a row, reports The Straits Times.

The commerce ministry reported another slump in imports, down 14.5 percent in April from a year before as companies, unsure how the politics would develop, stopped importing machinery and consumers reined in spending.

Exports have not been able to offset the depression in the domestic economy: they fell 0.9 percent in April, although the ministry said it was still hopeful for 5 percent export growth this year.

The team of advisers announced in a brief statement late on Tuesday included a former defence minister, General Prawit Wongsuwan, and former army chief General Anupong Paochinda.

The two men are towering figures in Thailand’s military establishment and have close ties to coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

All three are staunch monarchists and helped oust Thaksin, who remains at the heart of the political crisis, in a 2006 coup.

BDST: 1446 HRS, MAY 28, 2014