Supavud Saicheua, managing director of Phatra Securities, who had gathered information from several meetings abroad with investors over the past two weeks, said foreign investors were now concerned that the sufficiency-economy philosophy could lead to a more inward-looking approach and that the 12-month period in office of the interim administration would disrupt any continuity in policy implementation.

He said they also wondered how different this government is from the previous one.

The investors also expressed disappointment with the past government, which acted too slowly to implement economic policies over the past two years, including mega-project investments and privatisation.

In addition, Supavud yesterday told a seminar on the sufficiency economy, they had asked how much the current government was open for new technology from abroad, and with the sufficiency economy and more prudence in implementation of economic policy, whether Thailand would experience lower growth.

Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras told Supavud at the seminar that the sufficiency

economy was not inward-looking as it needs to adjust to the changing global situation.

"Foreign investors have misunderstood that we will become inward-looking. In fact, we need to catch up with fast-changing globalisation. This means we cannot look only within. If we can't catch up with the world we will be left behind. This is the way a liberalised economy is. To catch up, we need knowledge as well as morality," Kosit said.

To Kosit, the pending free-trade agreements with several countries are not against the government's sufficiency-economy philosophy.

He added that Thailand needed to adjust its economy from an emphasis solely on continuous growth to one that is driven more prudently - with growth coupled by efficiency - although this would take some time.

"I would like to ask for a break for us, as we would like to breathe. It may be slow but we won't do anything like North Korea, [that is] listening to no one," Kosit said.

He also said the government would cooperate with the private sector to boost efficiency in some industries that are

ready for such an approach, including sugar and textiles.

However, Kosit said one urgent task was to allocate part of the government's 2007 Bt1.52-trillion budget to help people in the provinces suffering from the flooding of the past two months.

Supavud said foreign investors had urged the government to prevent corruption as it has reduced their profitability.

"The previous government promised and could not deliver, indicating that without reconciliation, policies could not be implemented and the government lost its credibility. The new government will review everything, but go forward with all parties. Although it will be slow, it will be credible. This is the most important issue.

"This time, mega-projects will be smaller due to the new economic philosophy of the sufficiency economy. No one will be critical if the expected Bt1.8-trillion mega-projects are much smaller, but if you really implement them with transparency and no corruption, investors will believe they are is possible," he said.

Phatra Securities plans to arrange more meetings with investors in Europe and the United States to explain Thailand's economic direction.

Jiwamol Kanoksilp

The Nation