Thai PM monitors US economic problems

BANGKOK, October 2 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that she is following up economic problems in the United States, including the temporary "federal government shutdown" caused by its stalled 2014 budget bill, but she does not think Thailand will face the same budgetary problem as that encoutered by Washington. Yingluck told journalists on Wednesday that she is monitoring the situation in the United States, where employees of some government agencies do not receive their pays after the 2014 budget bill has not been passed by the US Congress due to political strife between the ruling Democrat and the opposition Republican Parties Yingluck expressed her hope that the United States can find a way out in a few days. Yingluck stressed that she does not think such the situation in the United States will happen in Thailand, pointing out although the Constitution Court has not yet considered the legality of the 2014 budget bill, Thai government agencies can use their contingency budgets in the meantime. However, the prime minister noted, she hopes the Constitution Court will issue its ruling soon so that her government's investment in new mega-infrastructure development projects will not be long delayed. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt told a meeting with the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) that the Bang Pa-in-Nakhon Ratchasima motorway will be the first mega-transport project he will invite representatives of the private sector to observe, while Pramon Sutheewong, chairman of the ACT, acknowledged that the private sector is interested in observing the implementation of the Thai government's new mega investment projects. (TNA)