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Thailand's economy is expected to post positive gross domestic figures for the fourth quarter of 2010, and grow up to 3.5 percent in 2010, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday, underscoring a firm recovery for the Southeast Asian nation.
However, he added that the outlook of the economy is still dependant on state of the global economy.
"The global recovery is still fragile in many ways so that has to be watched because primarily we suffered from this crisis through a drop in exports and tourism, which come basically from the drop in purchasing power of our partners," Abhisit said in an interview with CNBC.
He also cited the internal situation in Thailand as a factor, saying "any problems in terms of politics that can affect the confidence of the people, investors... obviously that would have an effect too."
Abhisit also agreed with the recent rhetoric from global leaders and central bankers that it is too early to withdraw financial stimulus at this point.
"I think a lot of what we see in terms of the (economic) turnaround is based on people's expectations that the public sector is going to make some substantial investment, or doing tax cuts so that the economy can get going. So at least for the next year, I think that we have to make sure that the stimulus package run their course."
The Prime Minister said he is not too concerned about the weakening U.S. dollar against Asian currencies, as the country is currently "still running quite a substantial current account surplus" but did say further softening of the greenback will put pressure on exporters.
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But he rules out government intervention to prop up the Thai baht for now.
"I think the intervention are aimed at reducing volatility. They are not aimed at specific targets and they are certainly not aimed to actually go against the underlying fundamentals," said Abhisit.
With regards to the escalating diplomatic row between Thailand and Cambodia since Cambodia's recent appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra as the country's economic adviser, Abhisit said the issue is strictly bilateral and can be resolved bilaterally.
"We don't intend to let this escalate into any kind of violence, and certainly we have refrained from taking any measures that would have affect the people (on) both sides of the border," he said.
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