Morgan Stanley confident in Thailand's national development plans

BANGKOK, March 8 (TNA) - A top management of US-based Morgan Stanley, a world-class finance service provider, has expressed his confidence in Thailand's political stability and national development plans. Suranand Vejjajiva, secretary-general to the prime minister, told journalists that Ruchir Sharma, Head of Morgan Stanley Investment Management or MSIM's Emerging Market Equities and Global Macro Funds, expressed the confidence during his meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at Bangkok's Government House on Friday. Suranand said the management of Morgan Stanley opined that the Thai government has significantly boosted national stability and development after a past period of downturn caused by domestic political problems and expected that Thailand's now strong economic fundamentals would result in stable and steady growth of the Thai economy. Suranand revealed that the management of Morgan Stanley also expressed his appreciation to the Thai government’s efforts to help the poor in rural areas, as they should reduce social inequality in the country, suggesting if Thailand could resolve the gaps of local people's income and development between urban and rural areas, the Kingdom would become a developed country in the future. According to the secretary-general, Premier Yingluck told the management of Morgan Stanley that Thailand's political stability has resulted in economic growth and her government has also attached great importance to national reconciliation, insisting that her administration is working seriously to improve income distribution to narrow down the income gap and to further develop nationwide infrastructure and water management systems, as well as agricultural zoning to create sustainable economic growth and to reduce the country's reliance on exports. Besides, the Thai premier said her government is reforming national structures and people’s mentalities to support national economic development and informed the management of Morgan Stanley of investment opportunities in Thailand, regarding her administration's new mega-projects to enhance national competitiveness and potential to become a gateway to other member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Meanwhile, Thanavat Polvichai, Director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center of Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, reported that Thailand's consumer confidence index rose 74.3 points last month, from 72.1 points in January 2013, representing its peak in 19 months, or since August 2011, thanks to such positive factors as a 18.9 per cent national economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year, the maintained 2.75 per cent policy interest rate of the Bank of Thailand or BOT, the over 67-point surge of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index in February alone, as well as the increased exports and daily minimum wage to 300 baht in all areas across the country. Thanavat foresaw if consumers’ confidence remains positive, the Thai economy should grow by 5.5 per cent this year, boosted by the government's investment on the new mega projects. The senior Thai economist cautioned that the Thai economy could, however, face impacts from such negative factors as rising world oil prices and value of the Thai baht, as well as political uncertainty and concerns over global economic problems. (TNA)