February 12th, 2008

Bad week of



- Thailand's new govt will decide by April whether to lift capital controls; FM Suewonglee said they've reached no conclusion

- New PM Sundaravej said they will lift controls to boost growth; exports make up $206bn

- Equity exempted in Dec '06, real estate funds and overseas loans exempted in Dec '07; overseas bond investments control remains in place

- expect growth around 5.5% after 4.7% in '07; Samak wants to see 6%

- Saudi oil price and ccy will remain tied to USD Minister of State said

- he indicated however that relations b/w the two countries continue to fray post 9/11

- said high price of oil is not a supply side issue; due to refining capacity problems => exacerbated by US in Iraq