There's a time to attack, and a time to defend

Many might not know that the Bank of Thailand governor, Prasarn Trairatvorakul, is an ardent fan of the English Premier League, and during a recent press conference he gave an explanation of how fiscal and monetary policy were supportive of each other and should work together – just like a football team.

He said that in the process of stimulating the economy, fiscal policy should take the offensive role by driving the economy forward through its policies, while monetary policy should stay at the back in a supportive role by introducing or providing changes to monetary policies to better suit the economic situation and expansion at a particular period of time.

“When the economy is sluggish, monetary policy is willing to move forward and carry some of the weight of the economic burden, but when the economy is improving, it has to move back to maintain the balance of the economy,” he said.

“It is like a situation in a football match. Some players have to stay back to defend but, when there is an opportunity to score, the defenders can go up and score to help the forwards. However, when the forwards are functioning again, the defenders have to move back, or else when you are leading 3-1, it could end up in a 5-3 defeat. This is just one example,” he added, jokingly.

Governor Prasarn was obviously referring to the EPL game between Manchester United and Leicester City on September 21, when the mighty forwards of United managed to score three goals to lead 3-1, but ended up losing to their newly promoted opponents 5-3 due to a lack of defensive quality.

“They lost because they had a bad defence, they forgot their responsibility – and this should serve as a reminder for all of us,” he said.