Thaksin Shrugs Off Imf Assessment

PM shrugs off IMF assessment

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today dismissed the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment of Thailand's economic growth, saying that the IMF's assessment was only a forecast.

Speaking in response to the IMF's recent announcement that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2005 would remain below five percent, the prime minister acknowledged that the government would have to work hard if it was to achieve expansion above this rate.

But he vowed that the government would not simply lie down and wait for its fate, but would do everything it could to boost Thailand's economic growth rate.

The IMF forecast falls broadly in line with earlier predictions made by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).

However, both the IMF and the government have played down the implications of a lower than expected growth rate, pointing out that the world economy is experiencing a general period of slowdown.

--TNA 2005-06-16