THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the Export and Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM), said, he expects the Thai economy to shrink four percent this year if the government succeeds in applying Bt400 billion ($US11.663 billion) of loans to restore and rebuild the economy as scheduled.

Mr Narongchai said he also believed that Thailand’s exports this year would contract by at least 20 per cent over last year.

At the same time, he said, Thailand’s international reserves, which remain at more than US$100 billion, had increased month by month and a certain amount of foreign capital had flowed in for investment in the market.

However, Mr Narongchai said if the loans were not taken, the economy might contract more than expected.

“Now, only is the government in a position to spend and invest in many areas, as the private sector has seen slowed investment. The government should accelerate implementing the second economic stimulus scheme through various investment projects [as soon as possible],” he said.

Mr Narongchai said such a course would make the baht continue to appreciate against the US dollar for the rest of this year, as the [US] dollar had weakened.

According to Mr Narongchai, “all parties should stop projecting the export trend because it has already contracted. Instead, all parties should turn to see whether new markets, particularly Asian countries with growth potential, have been restructured yet.”

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for June 9, 2009