BANGKOK, 18 August 2011 – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is against the idea of the government to use international reserves in order to set up a national wealth fund for oil investment because the risk is high.
BoT Assistant Governor for Financial Markets Operations Group Pongpen Ruengvirayudh expressed her disagreement with the idea to use international reserves to set up a national wealth fund for oil investment because oil was a risk asset.
Ms Pongpen elaborated that when the BoT made an investment, it must be confident that it would get back the principal while return on investment iwa not the major point of concern. She added that the assets that the BoT invested inmust also have high liquidity.
The assistant governor confirmed that the BoT so far had been investing in various kinds of assets after the amendment of the 2008 BoT Act, allowing the BoT to invest in various kinds of assets, but would stick with security of the assets first.
As for foreign fund transfer, Ms Pongpen responded that the BoT had been monitoring the issue closely, but there was no need to issue additional regulatory measure at present.
