Another blow for foreign investors

BANGKOK (AFP): Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today urged developing Asian nations to abandon economic policies modeled after the United States and Japan, and to try to build local businesses rather than attract foreign investors. At the opening of the 57th session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Thaksin said that economic reforms based on international standards had created major problems for Asian economies. In particular, he singled out transparency and ‘good-governance’ banking standards, adherence to which, he said, has “created massive public debt and ensured that [Asian] economies will be unable to cope with the problem of poverty alleviation.” He also blamed foreign investors worried about their investments for criticism of developing economies in Asia, and said that, in order to promote growth, these countries must look within and build local businesses. Free market principles, the acceptance of globalization measures and financial liberalization through the adoption of Western business standards have made some Asian countries “financial pariahs and non-transparent borrowers overnight,” he added. “We are going back to basics in every sense of the word, and especially in light of the new and less-than-friendly world environment,” Thaksin said, just a day after his government announced a campaign to slash imports.