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Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Thursday that the country’s public debt may exceed 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) before his government is able to solve the economic downturn.

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Loans extended are likely to signal growth in this year’s second quarter in tandem with projected global economic recovery, according to a top Bangkok banker.

Despite the lacklustre performance earlier in the year, Kbank president Prasarn Trirattanaworakul said the world economy now showed signs of improvement, which fares well for international trade.

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Bank of Thailand (BoT) Assistant Governor Sorasith Sunthornkes on Wednesday revealed the central bank had urged commercial banks to lend more to the business sector, particularly small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), in support of government policy.

Additionally, the central bank prompted Thailand’s commercial banks to supervise the capital fund and non-performing loans (NPLs) closely, and asked them to restructure debts to ensure that the capital base is not affected.

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Thailand’s stock market has already bottomed out and is likely to turn around if the political tension eases, according to Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) chairman Pakorn Malakul Na Ayuthaya.

Speaking of the Fiscal Policy Office statement that the Thai economy had already hit bottom in the first quarter of this year, he said the economy will continue to shrink from that quarter until the third quarter before turning positive in the last quarter of this year.

Regarding investment sentiment in SET, Mr. Pakorn said he had monitored the situation and believed stock prices had already bottomed out.

In the past month, foreign investors had returned to accumulate stocks with a net value of Bt70 billion, he said, adding that should political tensions ease, investment in the Thai bourse would pick up.

Sombat Naravuthichai, secretary-general of the Securities Analysts Association, said the SET composite index had climbed up close to the target level of 495 points set earlier.

The index is likely to surpass the 500-point level since global stock markets had recovered somewhat in the past two months.

He said the association sees the Thai economy as bottoming out in the second quarter of this year.

The economy will continue contracting until the third quarter before turning positive in the fourth quarter.

He believed the Mexican swine influenza outbreak will affect Thai stock prices in the short run, but will directly impact tourism and consumption since the public fears to travel and spend. (TNA)

The Mexican swine flu crisis is likely to have only minimal impact on Thailand’s tourism and, on the contrary, could provide a good opportunity to encourage an arrival of foreign tourists to Asia if the deadly disease was successfully contained, according to Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) chairman Santi Vilassakdanont.

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Although Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted between 5-6 per cent during the first quarter of 2009, there are positive signs that the economy is heading towards recovery, a senior Bank of Thailand (BoT) official said on Thursday.

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Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Saturday flew to Thailand’s Andaman Sea island resort of Phuket to observe preparations for hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit with its six dialogue partners next month.

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In a bid to boost the morale of Mexicans who are now living a nightmare following the recent outbreak of swine flu virus, now known as influenza A (H1N1) in the country, Thailand decided Saturday to dispatch 20,000 tablets of the antiviral drug Oseltamivir to treat the deadly virus victims there, Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kajornprasart said Saturday.

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The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Small Business Credit Guarantee Corporation (SBCG)  as guarantor to stand behind loans taken out by small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) operators from commercial banks to pay corporate tax to the Revenue Department, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij announced.

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Thailand’s international reserves dropped by nearly Bt34 billion during April 8-15, the Songkran festival period when the country’s political confrontation heated up and turned violent, according to the Bank of Thailand (BoT) report on the official reserve.

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