Government to keep Thai baht stable

BANGKOK, May 15 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has assured that her government is doing the best to address economic problems, including quickly solving impacts from the baht appreciation since early this year. Yingluck told reporters on Tuesday, one day after her meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, Governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT) Prasarn Trairatvorakul and representatives of the private sector, that she has ordered the deputy prime minister and finance minister to discuss demands of the private sector with concerned authorities to quickly solve the baht appreciation-related problems. The prime minister said that she also asked the deputy premier, at the Cabinet's weekly meeting earlier in the day, to regularly discuss requests of the private sector and to follow up solutions to relevant monetary and financial problems, noting that the government is concerned over the stability of Thai baht and understands the problems of the private sector, especially exporters, but all parties need to handle currency fluctuation closely, as they share the same goal of stabilizing the national economy and the baht value. Meanwhile, Patchara Samalapa, Executive Vice President of Kasikorn Bank (KBank), predicted that the Thai baht could appreciate to about 28.50 baht a US dollar late this year and fluctuate throughout this year, but the baht appreciation should slow down due to uncertainty in government solutions to the value of the Thai currency. (TNA)