No plans for sovereign wealth fund, says Thai finance minister
Source: 17-MAY-2008 Intellasia | TNA
May 17, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM Finance and deputy prime minister Surapong Suebwonglee on Thursday indicated Thailand was not ready to tap its international reserves to finance the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

"Our reserve is not big enough to do that," he said. "We need to use the reserve to support our country's financial stability," he said at a seminar on "Sovereign Wealth Funds: International Experiences and Options for Thailand."

He affirmed the government had no policy to set up a fund to help ease the baht appreciation while the country's current account balance is in surplus.

"Our international reserve has increased by 40% to a level of around US$100 billion in the past two-years because we enjoy a current account surplus thanks to the increased exports and small imports.

"The current economic situation is imbalanced since we have not invested recently," he said.

The latest figure released by the Bank of Thailand shows the country's international reserve as of May 2, 2008 totaled US$109.2 billion.

Dr Surapong said the establishment of SWF is in a process of study on various aspects to find a proper way to do that.

The government had no idea of setting up the fund to supervise the currency exchange rate movement.

The fund would be only set up if it could build investment opportunities for the country, he added.

However, he could not yet determine what level of international reserves would be enough to set up the fund and when it should be established, he conceded.