Thailand anxiously awaits decrees' ratification<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Reuters): The Thai government is anxiously awaiting
\nratification of four controversial financial decrees in
\nparliament today to arm itself with more powers to speedily
\nresuscitate the comatose economy.<\/p>\n
The lower House of Representatives is expected to meet today
\nfor a special sitting to ratify the urgent decrees following a
\nconstitutional court ruling on Saturday that the decrees approved
\nby the cabinet of premier Chuan Leekpai last month were legal.<\/p>\n
The ratification will empower the government to raise US$18
\nbillion in foreign and domestic bonds, raise its foreign
\nborrowing ceiling, enable it to undertake much-needed financial
\nreforms and break a severe domestic liquidity squeeze.<\/p>\n
They need to be ratified quickly so that the cabinet at its
\nweekly meeting tomorrow will be in a position to incorporate them
\ninto a fourth letter of intent to be agreed with the
\nInternational Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n
The letter, which is to be presented to the IMF board on June
\n10, would enable the disbursement of another $800 million from
\nthe $17.2 billion bail-out package.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the decrees will be voted today, but whether there
\nwill be another political accident again tomorrow is yet to be
\nseen,\" said premier Chuan.<\/p>\n
The opposition, which has said it accepts the court's ruling
\non the decrees, said the decrees helped the business elite at the
\nexpense of taxpayers and the poor.<\/p>\n
Analysts and businessmen said the government's problems in
\ngetting the decrees ratified signaled the start of an uphill
\nbattle in coming months as the economic crisis deepened, bringing
\nhigher unemployment and corporate bankruptcies.<\/p>\n
The analysts said that the government would have to spend time
\nand effort in explaining to the public that the measures, which
\ninvolved hefty borrowing, were not engineered to save the rich at
\nthe expense of the poor.<\/p>\n
\"I think the government is taking the right steps in
\naddressing the problem,\" said Somphob Manarangsan, an economic
\nprofessor at Chulalongkorn University.<\/p>\n
\"But it has done a terribly poor job in informing the poor and
\nthe unprivileged about the cost and returns on these measures and
\non how these painful steps can help these people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Analysts also said a most valuable lesson learnt from the
\nlatest controversy over the decrees was that the government
\nneeded to be more in touch with the masses.<\/p>\n
Prominent social critic Thirayuth Boonmee sparked an intense
\npublic debate this week when he criticized the government's plan
\nto use some of the money raised to finance bailouts of failed
\nfinancial institutions.<\/p>\n
Thailand's worst financial turmoil in decades forced the
\nclosure of 56 debt-ridden finance firms last year. This week the
\ncentral bank took over another seven ailing finance firms.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Bank of Thailand also nationalized four
\ninsolvent commercial banks, raising broad public suspicion that
\ntaxpayers' money would be used to shoulder private debt burdens.<\/p>\n
Premier Chuan denied the allegations by critics.<\/p>\n
\"I would like to stress that we are not giving priority to the
\nrich. We are not helping the rich but trying to make the business
\nsector survive so that they can retain their employees,\" he said.<\/p>",
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