Moody's paints gloomy outlook on Thai politics

 In his television interview in Singapore which was covered by Bloomberg News, he said "We don't expect that this turmoil is over. Back in September 2006, we kept the outlook stable thinking that this is a military coup, thinking that this was a temporary problem in Thailand. Now it seems that is it protracted and we really dont see a resolution in sight."

 Byrne said that Thailand has come to the point where the near anarchy in Thailand will have a dampening effect on investment and this comes at a time when the collapse in exports, global demand for anybodys exports, would slow down the Thai economy.

 "You're getting these two forces reinforcing each other and I think therell be definite effects on the economy, tourism will be down, but the biggest uncertainty is what will manufacturers do. A lot of them are foreign invested manufacturers.

 "Foreign investment in Thailand had been relatively strong but I think that will start to diminish. There are anecdotes of some companies hesitating not only because of the downturn in global conditions but also because of the political turmoil."

 Though he said that the banking system is less vulnerable to outside shocks than self-made shocks, Bryne said Thailand is in need of a function of parliament or government to get fiscal policy going.

 "We don't have that yet in Thailand. So this is a stimulus package that will be firing on one cylinder instead of having a whole engine going."