Thai government solving strong baht

BANGKOK, April 27 (TNA) - The Thai government has attached importance to solving the ongoing strong baht in order to achieve the country's targeted growth in various fields, including exports. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong told the public of the government's policy during the weekly broadcast programme of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Saturday morning. Kittirat said Thailand should have enjoyed a rosy economy this year, if the country had no problem on the strong currency since early this year, pointing out that several economic agencies have forecast that the Thai economy should sustain growth of 4.5-5.5 per cent in 2013. Kittirat assessed, however, although the Thai government does not expect the country's exports to grow at a very high rate this year, it should continue growing from last year. Acknowledging that the Thai baht has strengthened “too fast" Kittirat insisted that the Finance Ministry and related government agencies, including the Bank of Thailand (BOT), are finding ways to solve the crux, attributing continual capital inflows to invest in various bonds with attractive returns, compared to those offered in other countries in this region, as a major reason to the strong baht. The deputy premier noted that the Finance Ministry believes it remains unnecessary to impose any measure to control capital inflows, as it would obstruct the market mechanism, suggesting a cut in the central bank's policy interest rate instead, from 2.75 per cent currently. On the government's plan to borrow some two trillion baht to invest in several mega infrastructure development projects, the deputy premier explained that several government agencies, including the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and the Bureau of Budget will monitor every project to ensure that all the mega-investment projects over the next seven-year are worthwhile and beneficial to the Thai economy in general. (TNA)