"From the start, I realise it is my duty to overcome a crisis of unprecedented proportion, hence I have pledged for my government to work harder than ever before in order to serve the public and bring about happiness to Thai citizens," he said.

Abhisit was announcing his six-month performance report, showcasing more than 100 achievements and pledging to work harder to overcome social divisions and rebuild the country.

When the government came to power six months ago, Thailand was like a house on fire, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Thursday.

"We already passed the worst abyss where none of us could see a way out," he said.

He outlined his government's threestage strategy to advance the country forward once again.

First provide relief measures for coping with the ailing economy. Second tackle economic and political woes engulfing the country. And third rebuild the country for sustainable progress.

Within six months, the government had cushioned the impacts from the global economic downturn and churned out remedies to fight economic and political woes, he said. For the government's remaining term, the priority will be on nationrebuilding through the Strong Thailand project.

The highlights of 100 achievements included the free service for 15year compulsory education benfiting more 12 million youths. This was an elusive goal of many past governments but made possible for the first time under the present administration.

More than 3.5 million senior citizens are presently recipients of Bt500 monthly allowances and farmers nationwide are accessible to a new, improved price scheme for agricultural products. Workers can access the retraining scheme to cushion the impacts from job redundancy.

The underpriviledged residents have been provided with the five relief measures, such as free bus and train services and free water and electricity supplies.

For rebuilding under the Strong Thailand project, the financing will be done by tapping into domestic funds through the sale of government saving bonds.

The debtfinancing spendings are geared to improve the agriculture sector, the transportation and logistics infrastructure and the education, health and tourism services.

In regard to the violence plaguing the Deep South, the government will continue to focus on the political solution rather than rely on the military approach. The supervision of the strifetorn region will be placed directly under the Cabinet.

The prime minister said all indicators pointed to the economy bottoming out. He voiced optimism that revitalisation measures will start to bear fruits in the second half of this year.

From being completely demoralised, Thai people can now have a glimmer of hope and look forward to their future, he said.

The government has improved on the welfare benefits of the social security system. It is also working to improve on the tax system to ensure fairness, particularly for the collection of land tax revenues.

Commenting on the political turbulence, Abhisit said the polarisation still persisted even though he was trying to minimise the social divisions.

He vowed to uphold the monarchy by preventing the politicisation of the revered institution. He also said he would strive to contain the situation from degenerating into violence.

He said he took pride in honesty, noting his government was not tainted by any graft scandals.