Minister:Int'l investors have more confidence in Thai economy

BANGKOK, April 24 (TNA) - International investors should have more and more confidence in the Thai economy over the next 15 years, thanks to positive factors and the outcome of the Thai government's mega-infrastructure development projects. Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Kobsak Pootrakool voiced the promising prospect of the Thai economy while delivering a speech at a seminar in Bangkok on April 23, organized by the Hoonsmat.com website at the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) building. Kobsak pointed out that the positive factors include the expanding Thai exports and tourism, as well as the recovering world economy and the rising prices of Thai farm products, namely natural rubber, oil palm, rice, tapioca and sugarcane, in line with an anticipated hike of world oil prices in the coming months to about 60-70 US dollars a barrel, from about 29 dollars a barrel currently. Besides, the government's big move on a domestic industrial reform based on the Thailand 4.0 Policy, under which new digital and other innovative investment plans are welcome at the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Project and other areas connected with each other by such infrastructure projects as new high speed and dual-track train projects, as well as motorways, airports and deep-sea ports should add on the promising prospect of the Thai economy. The minister acknowledged that the growing economies in Indo-China, covering Cambodia, Lao PRD, Myanmar and Vietnam which are now called the CLMV group, should also help boost Thailand's economic growth through exports and other business transactions. The minister assessed that the internal and external risk factors for the growing Thai economy, namely impacts from the country's plan on the new general election and tensions in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula, as well as US economic policies should be handled due to strong fundamentals of the Thai economy. According to the minister, Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) should, thus, grow by 4-5 per cent yearly on average over the next 15 years, beginning from this year. (TNA)