It is important that the next governor of the Bank of Thailand be politically neutral and an expert on global and macro finance, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said yesterday.
"The Bank of Thailand will have a new governor in October, just as the government starts spending the budget of the new fiscal year, which is expected at around Bt1 trillion, including spending for masstransit projects.
Meanwhile, the baht will probably fluctuate, because of a weaker euro, in the third quarter.
And the appreciating yuan will put pressure on other Asian currencies. Hence, the new BOT governor must be good in managing those situations in order to balance the baht," said FTI vice chairman Tanit Sorat.
He added that the FTI also wants the central bank to carefully consider hiking interest rates in the second half of the year. If the bank has to increase rates, a good time may be early in the final quarter of the year.
The federation also suggests the bank should spend some of its Bt140billion reserve investments overseas in order to weaken the baht.