The board called Phisal a CAT Telecom veteran who could begin the job immediately without the need to learn it from scratch and that he had the ability to run the agency in these times of tough competition.

Deficit options

Three options have been proposed for the budget deficit during the 2007 fiscal year.

A source at a Finance Ministry meeting held yesterday said the government could run a budget deficit of Bt100 billion, Bt150 billion or Bt200 billion.

The source said the ministry's Fiscal Policy Office preferred a Bt150-billion budget deficit, but a final decision would depend on the next government.

GM expansion

General Motors Corp, the world's largest auto-maker, is spending US$100 million (Bt3.75 billion) to increase production at its Rayong factory 25 per cent, in order to boost sales of subcompact cars and pickups in Southeast Asia, reports the Bloomberg Financial News Agency.

William Botwick, GM's president for Southeast Asia, said yesterday investments in new machinery and a paint shop would increase capacity to 150,000 vehicles a year from next year, an increase of 30,000 units.

GM, which spent $650 million in 2000 to build the Rayong factory, plans to start selling new-model subcompact cars and pickups in Thailand and other countries in the region, in a bid to revive its sales amid rising fuel prices. The Rayong plant is the auto-maker's biggest Southeast Asian factory.