Thailand’s opposition Pue Thai Party recently allegated that persons with first names beginning with an initial “Kor” and “Sor” had played a key role in releasing rumours that the Thai government planned to buy back Thaicom Pcl shares from Singapore-based Temasek Holdings with an aim to manipulate the company’s stock prices.

In Thai public life–politics, business and the media–frequent use is made of such innuendo, a practice which discourages honest communication.

Mr Korn said the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had a duty to check activities aimed at manipulating stocks in the market.

They would be allowed to perform their duties completely, he said, affirming that he had never been implicated in stock manipulation.

“I admit I traveled to Singapore on April 12 to negotiate with Temasek on April 12. On that day, the Thaicom stock price moved in a narrow range of 5-5.50 baht per share with a trading value of Bt31 million.

“Until June 11, its price edged up and surged by 29 per cent to 7.20 baht with a trading value of Bt825 million on June 14 upon news reports that the government was mulling buying back the stocks,” Mr Korn said. “So, it can be proven that I had never been involved in stock pricing.”

Mr Korn advised the opposition party to give up citing newspaper reports as grounds to defame any persons.

“The party should give up using an initial of the persons’ first name to make an accusation. Instead, it should tell the public of the full name if it is sincere so that people are not bored with its behavior,” he said.

The term ‘boring’ has a stronger meaning in Thai than in English, and can include a stong sense of distaste. (TNA)

• BANGKOK, Feb 16 (TNA) – Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij on Monday called on all parties involved in the recent spate of violence to end such activities, warning that the economy could be ruined if the violence continues unabated.

  Mr Korn said that should the persistent political conflict turn violent with more physical explosions taking place, it would definitely undermine investor confidence and negatively affect economic growth.

  However, Mr Korn said he believed the government’s security agencies have a contingency plan to deal with the situation and preempt any chaos or violence.

  Security agencies are closely monitored the situation to prevent ill-intended groups from carrying out any violence.

  The minister said he wanted all parties to stop resorting to violence or staging incidents that may put the country into disarray.

  “Thai society is democratic,” Mr Korn commented. “Everyone has a right to express different points of view politically, but political rights must be exercised within a legal framework. It must not cause any disturbance to other persons,” he said.

  Mr Korn said he met some hoteliers during Chinese New Year and learned that more tourists returned to visit and spend leisure time in Thailand.

  Still, he said, some tourists expressed concerns about their safety. If the security agencies maintain peace and order, Thailand’s tourism and the economy will not be adversely affected. (TNA)

Speaking through the Sky Link system from Istanbul, Turkey, where he is attending the 2009 Annual Meeting of International Monetary Meeting-World Bank Board of Governors, Mr. Korn said businesspersons from Belgium, Norway, and Sweden spoke to him expressing their concern over the court order.

The minister said he told them that the government had already appealed the court order since it is confident that the implementation of the projects does not breach the Thai Constitution.

What the government must do now is to urgently clarify the definition given by the projects’ opponents about the adverse impacts on the environment so that investment projects which have won approval for implementation are allowed to proceed.

Mr Korn acknowledged that foreign investors might withdraw their investment in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) if the suspension order drags on.

However, the finance minister said he believed that investors would not yet withdraw their stakes in setting up production plants in Thailand because they are long-term investments.

Mr. Korn said the economies of Asian countries–particularly Japan, South Korea and Thailand–had recovered markedly since the second quarter of this year.

Because of this, foreign investors are confident and want to make further investments in various industries in these countries, he added. (TNA)

Speaking after joining the government’s 6-month performance report presentation at Parliament on Thursday, he said many economic indicators — including consumption, exports, production capacity, and value-added tax collection — had begun to signal a recovery.

However, the government remained worried about the heavily-affected tourism sector and was finding measures to help the sector.

Because of this, it planned to accelerate lending by SME Development Bank to tourism operators and adopt tax measures to help ease their burdens to ensure a recovery of the sector.

Mr Korn said the export sector should begin to recover given the improved economic conditions of Thailand’s trading partners.

Purchase orders in the food processing industry had turned around and begun to increase considerably, showing clear recovery.

Regarding the property sector, he said, the government’s extension of measures to ease taxes on home purchases had encouraged people to decide to buy houses sooner.

Mr Korn also revealed that the government is now measuring the country’s economic indicators both on a quarter-to-quarter basis, and month to month. It is the approach adopted by China, South Korea, and Singapore.

He said the approach is suitable for use when the economic is in crisis because it could reflect the overall picture of the economy more efficiently than the customary measurement of economic indicators on an annual basis. (TNA)

However, he conceded it is the duty of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) to supervise the baht movement.

On one hand, he said the stronger baht had negatively affected the country’s exports, but on the other hand, the appreciation of the currency helped ease oil import burdens amid rising fuel prices.

Asked to comment on the private sector’s call for the government to cut the corporate tax, Mr Korn said he harboured the idea when assuming the finance portfolio since he had the view the corporate tax in Thailand is higher than that of neighboring countries.

Still, the economic conditions at that time were not favourable enough to reduce the tax.

“Should the economy signal a recovery, I will consider reducing the corporate tax to 25 per cent from 30 per cent at present as part of efforts to encourage private investment,” he said.

The minister said he had discussed with the prime minister and the energy minister regarding a way to help ease people’s burdens borne by rising oil prices.

“We share a common view if diesel prices increase to hit a ceiling of 30 baht per litre, the government will consider cutting the oil excise tax and contributions to the State Oil Fund to help ease people’s burdens (TNA)