Having said this, I must also highlight that, by historical records, political developments had dented confidence in the economy only in the short run. Therefore, I am optimistic that with Thailand’s economic fundamentals remaining sound, the economy will be able to maintain growth momentum and overcome these short-run dips. In this regard, I wish to add that political development, which sometimes breeds strain and uncertainty within the society and economy, is not a unique phenomenon only to Thailand. Rather, it is a necessary process of growing up for most economies. For the past thirty years, the Thai economy has taken a good lead in development progress building on lessons learnt from crises, while political advancement trailing behind. From 1977 to 2007, the economy in real term has grown at an average rate of 7.0 percent (excluding 1997 and 1998), facing phases of reforms and restructuring, from import substitution to export promotion and to liberalization after the Asian financial crisis. In the meanwhile, Thai politics has evolved more gradually than the economy. And now, it may be time for catching up. And hopefully, out of this growing-up process, the gap between economic and political developments will narrow and a stronger economy under a more matured politics will emerge. Ladies and Gentlemen, I turn now to the second part of my talk. In the face of possible short-term dent on confidence, it is prudent that we do not lose sight of what importantly determines the future of the Thai economy.
We have a vision, we have teams of responsible professionals who work every day to achieve the goals set by the SDDS Plus, we have excellent interinstitutional cooperation... And all this, which is also necessary to build and develop modern and quality statistics, guarantees us that we will succeed to the end. Thank you. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches