Surapong: growth is govt's priority

Speaking yesterday after a meeting with stock analysts, he expressed confidence that the military would not stage another coup. He said the people would not support another coup because the most recent one had done great damage to the country.

"Moreover, nobody would dare to run the country at a time of high oil prices with the sanctions [that would come] from the international community [if another coup took place]," he said.

Surapong said the government would further boost the economy by implementing a second phase of policies aimed at upping incomes. It is planning to increase the salaries of state officials, while those on low salaries will get higher pay.

The government will also organise several trade fairs that will give villagers a market channel to sell their products, he said, adding that the government is also directly hiring people to do some jobs that could result in a better environment.

Measures to encourage people to use alternative fuels, as well as natural gas for vehicles, will soon be adopted, and if the government can assure alternative fuel producers that a huge market exists, then more alternative fuel and cheaper retrofitted engines will soon become available, he said.

The government will also try to convince consumers and investors that the economy can grow by 6 per cent despite high inflation.

He said he was still pursuing a pro-growth policy rather than one focused on stability. "Some may want to raise [interest] rates to counter rising inflation, but I think [the central bank] also has to take economic growth into account," he said.

The finance minister said the new measures would aim to boost people's incomes, following earlier implementation of measures aimed at reducing their expenditure, including tax cuts and debt suspension. He said some stock analysts had suggested that financial institutions could cooperate with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives in buying rice and other farm products from farmers in order to boost prices for farm goods.

Surapong said he might meet executives of private financial institutions if they were interested in helping farmers.