BANGKOK, 27 April 2012 – Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatworakul has rejected a plan to use the nation’s 180 billion baht worth of international reserves to fund infrastructure development.
Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development (SCRFD) Chairman Veerapong Ramangkul earlier proposed an investment on infrastructure development in Thailand using 180 billion baht budget taken from the nation’s international reserves.
In response, Mr Prasarn said the reserves should not be used for projects outside the Bank of Thailand Act. He, however, admitted that the nation needed to revamp its infrastructure but the central bank could only offer the international reserves to the private sector to exchange for dollars for import purposes.
During the Asian Banker Summit 2012, the BoT governor expressed his opinion on the government’s debt moratorium scheme, saying the policy will not affect Thai financial system because the moratorium is offered by the government’s banks under special circumstances.
In the meantime, he believed that the Thai commercial banks have potentials to compete against other ASEAN banks, many of which have begun to enter the ASEAN market race, Mr Prasarn said
