Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged all agencies to keep a close eye on the economic crisis in Europe as its impact could be “drastic” for Thailand.
But Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said on Saturday he was confident that the debt crisis would not have any serious impact on Thailand.
At a meeting of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and related agencies last Friday (June 15), the PM noted that Thailand has been preparing itself to cope with the crisis fallout for some time but conceded that the situation must be closely monitored.
The following day Mr Kittiratt – while conceding that exports will be affected to some extent, because Europe accounts for a tenth of all Thailand’s exports – said tight coordination among government agencies has been initiated to mitigate the crisis impacts, if any.
Nevertheless, he said he believes that the government’s 15 per cent export growth target for 2012 will be achieved if new markets can be opened to offset any drop in Europe.
Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul, too, is confident that current measures will be effective in handling any fallout from Europe.