Saturday, August 2, 2003
Thai foreign reserves seen at $40 bn by year-end
Reuters Bangkok, August 2
Thailand's foreign reserves will rise to around $40 billion at year-end despite the country's last debt repayment for an International Monetary Fund bailout package, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra said on Saturday.
Earlier this week, Thailand repaid its last tranche of $1.6 billion of foreign debt under the IMF-arranged package ahead of schedule. Of that amount, $96 million went to the IMF and the rest went to other creditors like Japan, Malaysia, Australia and other nations.
"Our foreign reserves will stay around $38 billion after the last IMF debt repayment... I am certain that the reserves will rise to $40 billion at the end of the year," Thaksin said in a weekly radio speech. He said the early debt repayment had reflected the country's strong economic performance despite the impact from the US-Iraq war and an outbreak of the deadly SARS virus on tourism and domestic consumption.
The IMF had arranged a $17.2 billion loan for Thailand at the depth of the Asian crisis, but Thailand had used only around $14 billion of the loan. Thaksin, repeating the central bank's announcement on Thursday, said Thailand's foreign debt stood at $53 billion after paying back the IMF loan.
Thailand's central bank on Wednesday raised its economic growth forecast for this year to 4.5-5.5 per cent from the 3.5-4.5 per cent forecast in April, citing strong exports and limited impact from SARS.
The economy notched up 5.2 per cent growth in 2002.
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