Moody's Investors Service believes political factors will not affect Thailand’s economy, says a fiscal affairs adviser to the Finance Ministry.
Moody’s representatives met Finance Ministry officials last week to ask about Thai economic data and pronounced the government’s finances stable, said Warotai Kosolpisitkul, the adviser to the ministry.
Moody’s believes Thailand’s economy has continued expanding due to the government’s economic policy, even though the military-led government was not elected, said Mr Warotai.
Moody’s has recognised the importance of the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) projects by visiting the EEC Office, he said, a positive factor for Moody’s to consider when assigning the country’s economic rating.
Soraphol Tulayasathien, director of the bureau of macroeconomic policy under the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), said the country’s economic growth in the first quarter of this year stood at 4.8%, the highest pace in five years.
Several key factors -- including rising consumer confidence, increasing car sales, growing export volumes and a larger number of hotel bookings -- have contributed to economic growth.
The cabinet has recently approved a medium-term fiscal plan (2019-2021) as required by the new Fiscal Responsibility Act, which puts more more restrictions on government's ability to seek additional loans beyond the budget..
Under the fiscal plan, said Mr Soraphol. four key public debt indicators were set: the ratio of public debt to GDP must not exceed 60% (it now stands at 41.2%); the ratio of public debt to government revenue must not exceed 35%,(now 19.6%); the ratio of foreign debt to overall public debt must not exceed 10% (now 3.9%) and the ratio of foreign debt to income from exports and services must not exceed 5% (now 0.42%),
The Finance Ministry has forecast that the country’s economic growth would be expand 4.5% this year, from a previous projection of 4.2%.