Thai PM discusses economic stability with concerned authorities

BANGKOK, May 22 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday invited economic authorities concerned to attend the Cabinet's weekly meeting to discuss the stabilization of the Thai economy, covering measures to cope with impacts from the appreciation of the Thai baht since early this year. The invited economic authorities include the permanent secretaries for finance, agriculture and cooperatives, commerce and industry, as well as the governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB). BOT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters before attending the Cabinet's meeting that he would report information on the economic stabilization and he believed he could answer all doubts. Prasarn denied that the meeting with the Cabinet would influence a decision of the BOT's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its next meeting on May 29, insisting that the MPC has authority to make its own decisions on the central bank's policy interest rate. Meanwhile, Payungsak Chartsutipol, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), proposed that the MPC cut the BOT's policy interest rate, or the repurchase rate, by at least 0.5 per cent at its Wednesday's meeting to stabilize the value of the Thai baht and to maintain the national economic growth. According to the FTI chair, if the MPC maintained the central bank's repurchase rate at 2.75 per cent, the local private sector would spend a certain period to assess impacts, acknowledging, however, that the Thai baht has started weakening and has, thus, cushioned its impacts on Thai exports to a certain extent. (TNA)