Newly-elected Thai government urged to proceed with key economic policies

BANGKOK, March 29 (TNA) - The new Thai government, to be formed after the country's general election last Sunday, should proceed with key economic policies that have been implemented by the incumbent military administration in order to maintain and boost confidence in the Thai politics among international private investors. Kobsit Silpachai, head of the capital market research department of Kasikorn Bank (KBank), raised the proposal on March 28, stressing that a major policy on promoting and materializing multinational investment plans under the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Project should particularly be driven forward by the newly-elected Thai government. Kobsit told journalists that there are remaining internal and external risk factors against the expanding Thai economy this year, including impacts from a possible delay in the formation of the new Thai government and a slowdown in the world economy, caused by the persistent trade war between the immense Chinese and the US economies and a slower recovery than earlier expected of the Chinese and the European economies. According to the senior banker, his KBank's Kasikorn Research Center (KResearch) will, thus, release a new report next week on its revised forecast figures of Thailand's export and gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year. KResearch has earlier projected that Thailand's GDP and exports should grow by 4 per cent year-on-year and 4.5 per cent year-on-year respectively in 2019. (TNA)