Standard & Poor's, the US-based leading credit rating agency, has kept Thailand's credit rating for 2013 unchanged at BBB+.

S&P's also rated Thailand with a stable outlook.

S&P's senior director of sovereign ratings Tan Kim Eng said on Thursday that S&P’s decision was based on the fact that Thailand is at risk of having a problem of high public debt in the future, even though it has strong economic fundamentals.

On the problem of persistent foreign direct investment inflow, the S&P director said Thailand’s listed companies have strong growth potential and are capable of dealing with the capital inflow.

Mr Tan said the government’s 2.2 trillion baht infrastructure development megaprojects would definitely be beneficial for Thailand if the budget spending is transparent and effective.

He warned that the government’s populist policies, including the rice pledging scheme which takes up a huge part of the budget, could lead to a high level of public debt and this could affect Thailand’s credit ratings in the future.

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