DPM confident Thai economy will grow by at least 5% in 2013

BANGKOK, May 6 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong says he is confident that the Thai economy will expand by at least 5 percent in 2013. Kittirat made the projection in his speech given at the 46th annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), held in India on May 4. In his speech, Kittirat talked about the Thai economy, which grew at a satisfactory rate of 6.4 percent in 2012. He also said that Thailand had mapped out development strategies centering on the avoidance of the middle-income trap, comprehensive and environmentally friendly economic development and the administrative improvement of the government sector. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation among ASEAN member nations and the promotion of the ADB role in helping develop countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion. During his trip, the Thai deputy prime minister and finance Minister also held bilateral talk with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso and President of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Nobuyuki Hirano. In his talks with Aso, the two counterparts discussed plans to boost bilateral economic and financial cooperation, covering regional infrastructure development, financial assistance, the empowerment of small and medium enterprises, regional connectivity and assistance for the economic development of neighboring countries. In the meeting with Hirano, they discussed the participation of Japanese private sector in the Thailand 2020 project, the opening of the bank’s branches in the Greater Mekong Subregion and the development of Myanmar’s Dawei special economic zone. (TNA)