Prasarn Trairatvorakul: Perspectives on Thailand’s economy Speech by Dr Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Global Macro Conference, Hong Kong, 27 January 2015. *  *  *  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure for me to share with you my perspectives on Thailand’s economy in these times of growing concerns about global financial markets and economic recovery. I would like to thank Goldman Sachs for arranging this platform for policymakers like us (the Bank of Thailand), senior global leaders and investors to exchange information and ideas. And, it is very important, at this juncture, to foster constructive dialogues between policymakers and industry specialists. I would like to first share with you my thoughts on Thailand’s recent economic development and the direction in which I see the Thai economy is heading. Update on economic activity Last year marked a bumpy ride for Thailand’s economy. In the first half of the year, the economy was stagnant due to a combination of low domestic demand and external challenges. In the second half of the year, clarity of political situation boosted private sector’s confidence, which in turn encouraged a turnaround in private consumption and a pick-up of private investment in some sectors, such as telecommunication. With the resumption of a functioning government, public spending resumed somewhat, although not as much as we had hoped. Throughout the year, low interest rates made the overall financial condition an accommodating factor. Despite occasional challenges, the financial and the real sectors remained resilient.
I think the first thing is you want to get some knowledge before you start to invest. And recognize that there are no quick, get-rich-quick schemes. If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. I remember when I got out of college, back in 1974, a long time ago, I decided – I had this very small amount of money that my great-grandmother left to me, I think it was $ and I decided I was going to go out and invest. And I have to say, at the beginning, I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I read a lot of books and I got really pretty well educated. There’s a lot of good books in the market, and I think you can actually educate yourself. And if you do that I think then you can start to gingerly start to invest. And you’ll learn as you go. It’s a long journey. I’ve learned things as I invested over the years. Now I don’t do anything, but I’m sort of retired from investing in my current role. But part of that I found that I kept learning it over a very long period of time. So, it wasn’t like the journey of knowledge was over at any point in time. But first thing is to find a really good book on investing, and read that.