ID :
143040
Tue, 09/21/2010 - 18:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/143040
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BoT predicts Thai economic growth at 7%
BANGKOK, Sept 21 - Thailand's economy is expected to grow 7 per cent this year thanks to the country's economic expansion in the first six months, which rose by 10.6 per cent year-on-year, according to Bank of Thailand (BoT) governor Tarisa Watanagase.
Predicting continuing growth for the Thai economy, she told the audience at the BoT's annual seminar that the ongoing world economic crisis will prompt Asia to drive the world economy during the next decade.
As the main industrial countries--including the US, Japan and Europe--are on the road to economic recovery, Asia will attract investors and become the world's major market.
More funds and investment, followed by higher fluctuations, are tending to flow into Asia including Thailand, she said, adding that Thailand has seen an influx of foreign funds in the past two months.
While Thailand slipped this year from the 36th to 38th ranking as an attractive location to invest, the BoT governor outlined four vital measures to deal with the coming challenges: improvement of the nation's competitive ability, financial reform, management of monetary policy to support financial challenges and increase long-term economic potential, and fiscal reform.
The competitive ability includes improving basic infrastructure, research and development, human resources, and production effectiveness to cope with competition from countries with lower wages and from developed nations as well as nations with new technology.
For financial reform, she said the financial systems of both financial institutions or capital market must be reformed to serve financial clients.
Concerning the monetary policy management, the BoT governor said the latest world economic crisis showed that interest rates were not the only tools to maintain economic stability, pointing out that tools to control the stability of the financial institutions system and the policy on better interest rates must be blended to support new challenges, while the currency exchange must be controlled to prevent fluctuation.
Touching on fiscal reform, Mrs Tarisa called on the government to invest more for the public bearing in mind that Thai society is entering its aging period.
The government should be careful about spending budget while the tax structure should be reformed to collect more revenues and create new types of taxes to reduce the public's burden in the long run, she added.
She also said that the proportion of Thailand's investment budget has been too low and the country's tax revenues per gross domestic product (GDP) accounted for only 16 per cent, equivalent to only half the amount in more developed economies. (MCOT online news)
Predicting continuing growth for the Thai economy, she told the audience at the BoT's annual seminar that the ongoing world economic crisis will prompt Asia to drive the world economy during the next decade.
As the main industrial countries--including the US, Japan and Europe--are on the road to economic recovery, Asia will attract investors and become the world's major market.
More funds and investment, followed by higher fluctuations, are tending to flow into Asia including Thailand, she said, adding that Thailand has seen an influx of foreign funds in the past two months.
While Thailand slipped this year from the 36th to 38th ranking as an attractive location to invest, the BoT governor outlined four vital measures to deal with the coming challenges: improvement of the nation's competitive ability, financial reform, management of monetary policy to support financial challenges and increase long-term economic potential, and fiscal reform.
The competitive ability includes improving basic infrastructure, research and development, human resources, and production effectiveness to cope with competition from countries with lower wages and from developed nations as well as nations with new technology.
For financial reform, she said the financial systems of both financial institutions or capital market must be reformed to serve financial clients.
Concerning the monetary policy management, the BoT governor said the latest world economic crisis showed that interest rates were not the only tools to maintain economic stability, pointing out that tools to control the stability of the financial institutions system and the policy on better interest rates must be blended to support new challenges, while the currency exchange must be controlled to prevent fluctuation.
Touching on fiscal reform, Mrs Tarisa called on the government to invest more for the public bearing in mind that Thai society is entering its aging period.
The government should be careful about spending budget while the tax structure should be reformed to collect more revenues and create new types of taxes to reduce the public's burden in the long run, she added.
She also said that the proportion of Thailand's investment budget has been too low and the country's tax revenues per gross domestic product (GDP) accounted for only 16 per cent, equivalent to only half the amount in more developed economies. (MCOT online news)
