The economy is expanding slowly this year but is expected to grow noticeably next year, Prasarn Trairatvorakul, governor of the Bank of Thailand, said on Thursday.
He said the factors that drove the national economy were being restored, and they included spending by the government. Spending under the 2015 fiscal budget would start this October and its merits would be obvious next year.
Export were not an important factor supporting the national economy this year because the global economy was recovering slightly, Mr Prasarn said.
Regarding investment in the private sector, he thinks that operators are waiting for clear policies before deciding on investment.
Mr Prasarn said present monetary policies, good liquidity and strong financial institutions supported economic recovery. He believed foreigners had more confidence in Thailand as currency exchange rates fluctuated only briefly after the coup and then returned to normal, and foreign funds were returning to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Besides, credit rating institutions had no negative views on Thailand, the BOT governor said.
He said rational economic policies could boost confidence while irrational ones dampened confidence, including the rice-pledging scheme in which the past government had bought rice from farmers at 15,000 baht per tonne while the market price had been around 8,000 baht.