Thai government prepares measures to cope with baht appreciation

BANGKOK, November 8 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong has admitted that policies of newly-elected US President Barack Obama will cause the Thai baht to appreciate, but the Thai government has prepared measures to cope with the issue. Kittirat told journalists Thursday that Obama's re-election on November 6 enables him to carry on his economic policies, especially the third round of quantitative easing (QE3), which should cause US dollars to depreciate but Asian currencies, including the Thai baht, to appreciate. Kittirat acknowledged, however, that the Bank of Thailand (BOT) is taking actions to prevent the baht from becoming stronger than the currencies of Thailand's trading partners; while, the Thai government is trying to create balance between demand and supply of foreign currencies through the promotion of mega-investment projects in the country run by the public sector and overseas investment projects of the Thai private sector and the extension of tax privileges for local business operators who will import machines to replace workers in response to the nationwide daily minimum wage increase on January 1, 2013. (TNA)