Thai minister urges U.S. help for region
Thai minister urges U.S. help for region
BANGKOK (Reuters): A senior Thai minister has urged more direct U.S. intervention to bring stability to battered Southeast Asian economies, the Nation newspaper reported on Saturday.
"If the U.S. shows its intentions or gives more cooperation in helping solve problems in South East Asia, investors from the U.S. and Europe will regain confidence," the paper quoted Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Virabongsa Ramangkura as saying.
"The IMF assistance would be enough for us if the crisis had not spread to other countries. Now it is a global problem," Virabongsa said.
The United States has so far failed to give the region's economic downturn sufficient weight especially given that Asia markets accounted for up to a third of American technology and product exports, Virabongsa said.
"If they allow the problems in the region to continue, their economy will also be adversely affected," Virabongsa told the paper.
The regional economies of Southeast Asia are struggling to cope with currency turmoil and a liquidity squeeze amid plummeting investor confidence since currency speculation forced Thailand to float the baht on July 2.
Overseas markets had largely ignored the regional turmoil until last week, when a sharp plunge in Hong Kong triggered selling by nervous investors around the world.
On Friday, Indonesia followed Thailand and the Philippines in accepting International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance for its economy.
Virabongsa, who is responsible for ensuring Thailand meets its IMF obligations under a $17.2-billion rescue package, reaffirmed the country's commitment to work toward prescribed targets.
"We will still work in accordance with conditions set by the IMF including slashing budgets and generating more income," he said.
The Thai baht, which slumped to a record low of 41 to the dollar on Friday and has lost more than 35 per cent of its value since its float, was now more vulnerable than had been anticipated because of the region's problems, Virabongsa said.
"These economic problems are beyond the power of any particular country to solve, this makes it difficult to say when the baht will stop falling," Virabongsa said.
Virabongsa, 54, is a conservative economist and former finance minister.