September 30, 2008
Bangkok - Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat told reporters that the global financial crisis would not affect Thailand much just shortly before the Thai stock market opened this morning.
"It will slightly affect Thailand but it will not be serious," he said.
However, the premier called the Bank of Thailand (BoT) governor to brief the cabinet on the economic situation this morning.
Deputy Prime Minister Olarn Chaiprawat chaired a meeting with Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech and BoT governor Tarisa Watanagase to assess the impact on Thailand, according to AFP.
The prime minister planned to later invite representatives from the private sector to discuss the crisis with him.
Lehman Brothers tends not to get help from the US government as the 700,000-dollar bailout package was aborted by the US Congress.
So far, foreign investors have withdrawn more than 100,000-million-baht (3.8-billion-US-dollar) investments from the Thai stock market, according to Asia Plus Securities.
The sell-offs were to hold cash to reduce risk.
It was expected foreign investors would come back to invest in the Thai stock market in the first quarter of next year.
