Bangkok Post

Kosit warns Samak of global economic risks

Outgoing deputy prime minister and industry minister Kosit Panpiamras cautioned Thailand's new coalition government to be prepared to cope with world economic volatility besieging the country in the years ahead.

No kidding? That advice pretty much sums up the kind of "ginger-economic-wisdom" typical of the outgoing government. Thank God for the return of a sane political establishment.

Possibly Kosit thought Samak wasn't particularly aware of economic-events outside Thailand, which may well derail the PPP-led coalition-governments' economic-strategy, and wished to alert him to them, so they might have the blame-the-farangs excuse ready, for when the PPP fail to deliver ?

Of course Kosit is actually doing the job at present, unlike whatever member of that 'sane political establishment' eventually draws the short-straw and emerges, as the new Finance Minister. So he may be more aware of stresses within the Thai economy.

Or perhaps he merely wished to be seen as having tried, to alert the incoming government, to what they might encounter ?

In my experience, for whatever it is worth, stating the obvious is a necessary art for high-profile politicians, in positions of economic significance.