To comply with His Majesty the King's sufficiency-economy initiatives, many Thai companies are reformulating their operational strategies for 2007. During the past several months, Thai leaders have given their own interpretations of what sufficiency-economy initiatives mean and how they may be used in improve our quality of life.

Khan Prachuabmoh, who recently was appointed to a new four-year term as the Government Housing Bank (GHB)'s president, said his bank would be following HM the King's sufficiency-economy initiatives in furthering its objective of providing "dream" homes for middle- and lower-income Thais.

"The Government Housing Bank will combine its current capabilities and its more than 53 years of experience to help developers and home-buyers achieve their objectives by following the HM the King's sufficiency-economy initiatives," he said.

At the same time, Khan said the GHB would ensure that it could still meet its overall objective of providing appropriate housing for middle- and lower-income Thais.

According to Khan, His Majesty's philosophy reminds everyone not to promote growth beyond our financial and fiscal capabilities. "The sufficiency economy stresses moderation over excessive spending, and sustainable growth is based on applying increasing domestic savings," he said.

To ensure that the GHB adheres to His Majesty's philosophy, Khan said the bank would use its more than a half-century of experience to advise lower- and middle-income Thai borrowers on how to acquire housing that best meets their individual economic circumstances. A critical element, he added, is promoting and encouraging the development of the second-hand housing market.

"We want to advise and educate people on why they should all be getting on board the property-ownership ladder," he said.

Khan said further educating lower- and middle-income home buyers on how financial institutions determined maximum housing-loans for each individual or family would be an integral part of the GHB's overall strategic initiatives. "We must also provide the development and housing-sales industries with more information so that they can more readily develop appropriate housing products for middle- and lower-income buyers," he said.

During his initial four-year term as GHB president, Khan systematically built the once staid  the GHB into one of Thailand's leading financial institutions. Under Khan's leadership, the bank became globally recognised as one of the most successful government-owned housing banks.

"Our core philosophy is to be the 'State of the Art Housing Bank'," Khan said.

The GHB's home loans to new middle- and lower-middle-income home-buyers increased from Bt62 billion in 2002 to more than Bt129 billion at the end of 2005, Khan said. By 2005, more than 189,000 home-buyers annually were purchasing their dream homes with GHB loans.

"One of our key missions is ensuring that the GHB offers innovative loans that allow lower-income people to obtain home-loan financing," he said.

As the GHB grew rapidly in the past four years, with year-end assets totalling Bt531 billion, it has remained one of Thailand's best-performing financial institutions. Last year, the bank had net profits of Bt4.37 billion and a 17.21-per-cent return on equity.

Khan and the GHB, a state-enterprise 100 per cent owned by the Ministry of Finance, have been recognised by their peers for the bank's performance. For the second consecutive year, GHB has won Best State Enterprise awards for Best Performance and Best Board of Directors.

In 2005, the GHB was selected by the Rockefeller Foundation and Harvard University's Joint Centre for Housing Studies as a key participant in its "More than Shelter: Housing as an Instrument of Economic and Social Development" conference in Bellagio, Italy.

The GHB and leading housing advocates from similarly developing countries including Kenya, Mexico and South Africa, along with the US, developed a "Bellagio Housing Declaration" that Khan hopes will be a benchmark for the GHB's role in developing Thai society.

"We intend to incorporate some of Bellagio's principles with His Majesty the King's call for building a sufficiency economy for the Thai people," he said.

Khan said that the GHB would act as a leader in encouraging the government to play an active and appropriate role in enabling, facilitating and supporting healthy housing markets and housing-finance systems. "We believe that sound, sanitary and affordable housing for all is central to the well-being of nations," he said.

Housing, Khan said, is more than shelter. "It is a powerful engine that creates opportunity and economic growth," he said.

He also reiterated that the government should maintain housing as a national priority. "Housing is a long-term process that requires a stable policy framework and demands national priority attention," he said.

Khan said that housing was also an engine of social and economic development.

"It brings significant benefits in terms of employment creation, domestic capital mobilisation and social well-being in the face of the major challenges posed by population growth and urbanisation," he said.

Equity in housing, Khan added, is a basic source of personal and family wealth that every Thai citizen should be entitled to.