No indication for rating cut: Kittiratt
Play
There is no indication that Moody's Investors Service may lower Thailand's sovereign rating, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong.
After the discussion with Moody's executives on Tuesday, he said topics discussed covered mostly the regional economic outlook as well as sovereign rating outlook. Kittiratt also showed the commitment that Thailand would achieve the balanced budget in 2017 as planned.
There is no indication that the rating agency would cut Thailand's rating, he said.
Per question on the Bt2 trillion infrastructure investment scheme, he told Moody's that the scheme would continue as planned and that the government would keep the public debt below 50 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
He also said that Moody's was not worried about the rice-pledging scheme. He said the government is capable of keeping control of the disbursement of budgets for the scheme.
Yesterday, Bank of Thailand governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told Asean ambassadors that the government's policies are geared towards short-term gains and impacts on the economy could wane. On this, Kittiratt rebutted that should the central bank want to help propel the economy, it should further cut the interest rate.
