Little direct impact is expected from the Greek crisis on Thailand and Thai
financial institutions as their investment in that country is still limited,
said Tarisa Watanagase, governor of the Bank of Thailand (BoT), on Saturday.
Ms Tarisa said the impact from the Greek crisis on the
world economy is still “unclear” and therefore close monitoring is
worthwhile to determine whether it would impact investor confidence.
Stressing that it is necessary to follow what measures
the Greek government has in store to shore up its economy, she said it is
also too soon to say that the crisis would affect Thai exports as well as
Thailand’s gross domestic product.
Regarding the current volatility of Thailand’s baht
currency, Ms Tarisa said it was within BOT’s projections. She said the baht
had become volatile due to the lack of investor confidence and uncertainty
in the global economy.
On foreign investment, Ms Tarisa said capital may have
flowed out of the equity market but still remains in the country as
investors transferred their funds to invest in other markets considered
safer.
The 16 countries in the Euro zone and the International
Monetary Fund have agreed to provide €110 billion in emergency loans to
Greece to help bail the country out of debt default, but market concerns are
that the funds may be insufficient. (TNA)
Thailand’s Foreign Chambers of Commerce (FCC) support the
5-point road map for national reconciliation proposed by Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva because it could help ease the political temperature and improve
confidence among members of the chambers, according to Thai Trade Representative
(TTR) chairman Kiat Sittheeamorn.
He said he had explained to the chairpersons of 21 foreign
chambers of commerce and nine ambassadors to Thailand the real and current
political situation in the country.
The international chamber heads said they agreed with the
proposed road map since they believe it could reduce the current political
tension. Still, they are concerned about law enforcement as protestors had
committed wrongdoings in several cases, Kiat said.
Business community members do not want any violence, he said,
and they want to see political stability restored in Thailand as soon as
possible.
The downtown Ratchaprasong area should be retaken quickly
without violence, according to the international business community. The
committee tasked to remedy the problems of people affected by the ongoing
political rally is speeding up concluding ways to cope with the turmoil.
He said impact of the rally on foreign entrepreneurs remains
unclear, except in the tourism and hotel industries.
He said FCC was very concerned about Thailand’s political
stability, and want political tensions to be resolved so that normality returns
and the government can proceed with its policy of addressing the economic
challenges.
Kiati allowed some foreign entrepreneurs had held back on
deciding to invest in Thailand, but he asserted they have no intention to
withdraw their investments.
He said ambassadors from nine countries - the United Kingdom,
Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, East Timor, Luxemburg, Korea, and Singapore
agreed with the road map, but they are concerned about whether their is unity
among the military and police to do their duty. (TNA)
