UNCTAD chief urges Thailand for capital control

BANGKOK, July 27 (TNA) - Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Supachai Panitchpakdi has suggested that Thailand control capital inflows for short-term speculative investment and lessen national reliance on the West. Supachai said in Bangkok on Friday, during his speech on Thailand in the global arena, that as the United States and Europe are facing economic woes, Thailand should now carefully cope with speculative capital inflows, as well as impose suitable control and reduce national reliance on western markets. Supachai, who is a former Democrat Thai deputy prime minister and commerce minister, pointed out that during any economic boom there were usually seeds of destruction which would later ruin many economies and that was an important lesson, recommending that Thailand now turn to, instead, more rely on Asian markets, especially China, South Korea and Japan. The UNCTAD chief acknowledged that some 70-80 per cent of Thai exports now depend on the West; so, the ongoing economic problems in western countries have, thus, affect Thailand. According to the UNCTAD chief, last year Thailand was ranked 39th in the competitiveness rating which covered 142 countries; while Malaysia was ranked 20th and Singapore was among the top ten close to the United States, Finland and Sweden. However, the Thai economy remains attractive to foreign investors for its independent judiciary, reasonable management costs, good regulations, proper etiquettes in the local private sector and reliable policies to protect international investors.(TNA)