Despite worries from foreign investors who fear Thailand could reverse its economic policies with the philosophy, he insisted the concept of a sufficiency economy did not run counter to a policy of market liberalisation.

"The sufficiency economy can be applied to all economic patterns, which is not against liberalisation. However, it would raise the quality of the free-market policy," he said after the first Cabinet meeting, where assignments were given to interim ministers. Notably, interim PM's Office Minister Thirapat Serirangsan was assigned to supervise MCOT Plc and the Public Relations Department.

Fixing the misunderstanding among foreign investors on the meaning of "sufficiency economy" is one of the top priorities that interim Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet instructed high-ranking officials to work on yesterday, aside from close monitoring of product prices amid the recent floods.

"The government will follow His Majesty the King's sufficiency economy and continue with market liberalisation," he said, vowing to revise any policies that could harm the economy, including negotiations on free-trade agreements (FTAs), intervention in agricultural prices and amendment of trade laws to protect the Kingdom's benefits.

He said all FTA negotiations should be revised. The ministry will carefully monitor progress on all such talks, even though some FTAs had already been concluded. The Thailand-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and Thai-US FTA will also need to be revised before they can proceed.

"The government might need to ask for a public hearing and Parliament's approval before giving a commitment to negotiation partners," said Krirkkrai.

Kosit expects to spend about a week finishing the national economic-development plan, after discussions with Thirapat and interim Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula.

At an economic seminar, panellists suggested the interim government take the offensive on economic and political reforms, in order to build a firm ground for the next civilian government.

"If the government has an attitude of being only an interim government, it cannot make a move on challenging issues," said Chulalongkorn University economics lecturer Sompop Manarungsan, who urged the government to seize this opportunity to solve economic problems.

His comments followed interim Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand's statement on Monday that he would not proceed with the privatisation of Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat). Panellists shared the same view, as they were worried about politics following this interim government's exit. They fear that there could be a return to typical money politics if the current political conflict cannot be solved.

Asia Plus Securities president Kongkiat Opaswongkarn shared a similar view with Sompop. He urged the government to come up with clear solutions on market liberalisation in general and foreign investment in particular.

"The government should be clear about business laws related to nominee and foreign shareholding limits in local companies. This is a concern among foreign investors," he said.

He urged the government to allow foreign investors to own 100 per cent of Thai companies in most industries and limit their holdings only in certain protected ones.

As the Administrative Court is considering several cases, including the nominee issue that involves Shin Corp's subsidiaries, Siam Commercial Bank president Jada Wattanasiritham also expressed concern about the legislative power of Thai courts, saying any surprise ruling could send a great impact.

Thai Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Chatchai Bunyarat also expressed worries about the problems at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

"If the problems are not solved quickly, this could affect the tourism industry," he said.

He also expressed concern about declining prices of farm products next year, which could reduce farmers' purchasing power.

Federation of Thai Industries president Santi Vilassakdanont is worried about the possibility of a hard landing by the US economy, which would adversely affect Thailand's exports.

Yesterday, most of the economic ministers began their work. Piyasvasti spent hours discussing issues with representatives from state energy enterprises, mainly Egat and PTT Plc.

While saying tourist arrivals should reach 13.8 million this year, interim Tourism and Sports Minister Suvit Yodmani said that his ministry would talk to the Commerce Ministry, the Board of Investment and other state agencies with offices abroad about launching road shows to lure back tourists and investors.

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