Thailand couts Soros to invest, says report

Thailand couts Soros to invest, says report

BANGKOK (DPA): Thailand last month urged U.S. billionaire
currency trader George Soros to invest in the local stock market
and promote the country in international financial markets, a
news report said yesterday.

The request was made by Thai government officials attending
the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank
held last month in Hong Kong, which Soros attended as a guest
speaker, said the Bangkok Post, an English-language daily.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, another honorary
speaker at the IMF/WB meeting, used the forum to chastise
international currency traders calling their activities
"unnecessary, unproductive and immoral."

Soros countered by calling Mahathir a "menace to his own
country."

At the same meeting Thailand was reportedly courting the
controversial billionaire to invest in Thai stocks and help
restore confidence in the Thai economy, which last August had to
seek a US$17.2 billion rescue package from the IMF.

"Mr. Soros asked us whether investing 1 billion dollars would
be enough or not," Thailand's deputy finance minister Chaovarat
Charnveerakul told the Bangkok Post.

"But he said that right now, he couldn't invest in Thai
stocks, because of the two-tier market, which creates obstacles
in repatriating funds out of the country," said the politician.

The Bank of Thailand last May banned lending of baht offshore
to combat speculation in the baht currency, effectively splitting
the market into two tiers.

The measure, originally aimed at combating attacks by
international currency speculators such as Soros's hedge fund,
has in the longterm discouraged foreign investment. The two-tier
system is expected to be lifted sometime next year.

Thailand's strategy was to encourage Soros to buy baht-
denominated assets such as stocks in order to guarantee against
future attacks by the currency speculator on the baht, said the
newspaper.