BoT chief confident of governor-designate’s ability for the post

BANGKOK, July 8 – Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Tarisa Watanagase on Wednesday expressed confidence that governor-designate Prasarn Trairatvorakul would be able to accomplish the job given his high skills and experiences particularly in the finance and banking sector.

“I believe the new governor will be able to pursue the task, particularly the bank’s effort to give people easy access to the financial system and its supervision of the interest spread.

“Actually, the way to oversee financial institutions was outlined in the 5-year plan designed to have the institutions adjust their role and management to boost their strength and stability before Thailand’s financial and service sectors will be liberalised,” she said.

Regarding Mr Prasarn’s comments that it is an appropriate time now for the Monetary Policy Committee to raise the policy interest rate, Mrs Tarisa said she did not want to give any signal on the matter. It depends on the discretion of MPC, which is set to hold a meeting soon.

She said the decision to raise the reference rate must be made based on the direction of overall global economic conditions, the economic recovery of the United States, and the European debt turmoil.

In addition, MPC will need to take into account domestic economic conditions while economic recovery continues gaining momentum.

On rumors that Deputy Governor Bandid Nijathaworn might be approached to take a top position in other state agencies, the BoT chief said she would be reluctant to give her consent because her deputy had much experience and capability to manage tasks in the central bank.

“Given his qualifications, he should better continue working with the central bank,” she said. (MCOT online news)