Of course, she has earned a reputation for being a civil servant of integrity and honesty, especially when she was tasked with the responsibility to supervise financial institutions.

However, when Tarisa took over the central bank, she shocked the market by announcing a 30-per-cent capital control requirement, leaving investors to question whether she really understands the market.

A governor of the central bank should not only have a solid background in economic theory but also the right intuition to gauge market sentiment in the same way as did former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

In fact, former central bank governor MR Chatu Mongkol Sonakul tried to keep in touch with the market by organising luncheons with groups of businessmen. However, the working lunches were cancelled by his successors.

Now we come to Tarisa, who has spent most of her time inside the colonial-style Bangkhunprom Palace, the venue of the Bank of Thailand.

Some have even questioned whether Tarisa has ever been outside the palace to check the market. So we asked our paparazzi to keep track of Tarisa.

They came back to report that, in fact, she had been to the market quite often.

She usually went to the market on Soi Aree to buy soybean milk in the morning.

And then she would go to check the central bank's canteen by herself to monitor the movement of prices, especially fruits and vegetables because she loves vegetarian food.

However, Tarisa seems to be out of touch with the market since she became the chief of the central bank.

She rarely picks up soybean milk these days. In fact, she hardly ever turns up at the canteen.

Tarisa should take some time out to track the sentiment of the market and the price movements of soybean milk.

The price of soybean milk has stayed the same for months and that should serve as an indicator that another cut in interest rates wouldn't hurt.

Busdsk@nationgroup.com