But it began to recover in April 2002. The latest figure for the whole year showed the annualised growth at almost 6%. This was a dramatic turn around. It should be noted that the export recovery did not come entirely from our traditional markets, the US and Europe. What we did see was that export to Asia increased by over 7%, somewhat higher than the average figure, with China absorbing a good 23% more of Thai goods this year compared to last. Second, farm prices improved substantially. Prices increased by 11% boosting farm income by the same percentage for the whole year. Both these factors helped improve our domestic consumption especially the sale of automobiles, motorcycles and construction. Third, there was a strong recovery of other domestic demand. Part of this was helped by the fiscal stimulation. In 2002 the budget deficit was at 3.6% of GDP. The other factor was the low interest rate environment that the Bank of Thailand has maintained for the past 5 years and is now beginning to bear fruits. The accommodative monetary policy resulted in robust growth of mortgage lending as well as other types of consumer loans. Consumer confidence rose to its highest level in recent years. Domestic investments improved too. I agree that at the moment not much of the new business investment was yet financed by bank loans. The entrepreneurs still rely more on their internal cash. But the latest investment indicators showed an annual rate of increase at a high of 23%.
As over 80% of customers invested $ and below, FIDReC is the right avenue for them to pursue their claims. FIDReC normally deals with claims not exceeding $ In the case of the structured products, however, the FIs have agreed for FIDReC to hear deserving cases. We have also said that if there are breaches of our regulation, we will take action against the financial institution or individuals involved. MAS has required the independent parties to highlight these breaches and potential cases of mis-selling to MAS. They have already brought a number of possible cases to our attention and we are following up on them. Normally, as you know, MAS does not comment on our dealings with individual institutions. However given public interest in this matter, MAS confirms that we have been conducting formal inquiries into allegations of breaches of the law, inadequate internal controls by the FIs or poor sales practices by their representatives. We will make an announcement on any actions we are taking when our inquiries are completed. MAS urges any affected investor who has a genuine claim that you were mis-sold the product to make sure you lodge your complaint with your FIs. MAS requires FIs to have a  BIS Review 126/2008  1  rigorous process to look into every complaint and resolve them fairly, giving due weight to the views of the independent parties. Clearly, there is a range of investors who bought these products. Some are well-educated professionals. Others are sophisticated investors.