Thai PM calls for balanced economic growth in Asia

BANGKOK, May 31 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called for balanced economic growth in Asia and confirmed that Thailand is investing in flood prevention, stimulating domestic consumption and curbing inflationary impacts. Yingluck delivered the message during her speech on “Asia’s New Reality:Growth vs Inflation” during Thursday's CNBC Power Breakfast session, organized as part of the 21st World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia being hosted by Thailand from May 30-June 1. Yingluck insisted that the Thai government is trying to keep balance between national economic growth stimulation and price stability, especially during the current global economic downturn, pointing that her administration has tried to stimulate domestic consumption and invest in public sector projects and has ordered the Bank of Thailand or BOT to use macro-economic instruments to cope with inflationary impacts. According to the premier, the national economy is expected to grow by 5.5-6.5 per cent this year, when inflation will likely run at 3.5-4 per cent, although the country's unemployment rate should remain low at 0.7 per cent on average as her government is improving local workers' quality of life with a new daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht nationwide in the coming months aimed to stimulate domestic consumption and investment. The Thai prime minister acknowledged that active spending and investment in the country had boosted the Thai economy to grow by as much as 11 per cent during the first quarter of this year, compared with the last quarter of 2011, saying that her government is also trying to further raise national productivity through restructuring local industries, developing human resources, investing in new infrastructure projects and improving flexibility in bureaucratic tasks. Premier Yingluck noted that solutions to last year’s floods had proved Thailand's flexibility, as the Kingdom could change a crisis into opportunities, and that her administration has worked hard to cope with disasters, including having invested over 1.4 billion US dollars in nationwide water management systems and the integration of water management. Meanwhile, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said that the WEF on East Asia 2012 shows important roles of Thailand and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the global arena, as it proves that the 10-member bloc is now ready to attract more global trade and investment in the lead-up to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. The ASEAN chief, who is a former Thai foreign minister, suggested that Thailand shift from labor-intensive production to innovation-based production to further raise the national economic status from a middle-income country currently and to avoid such major regional competitors as China and India. (TNA)