The Thai government plans to sell savings bonds worth about 50-80 billion baht ($1.5-2.4 billion) towards the end of the first quarter, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Monday. The government has announced plans to sell 170 billion baht of savings bonds in the current fiscal year starting October 1 to help finance its budget deficit and stimulus spending.
It plans to invest 1.43 trillion baht ($43 billion) over the three years from last September to help Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, which emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009. Korn also said the ministry would next week outline its policies for the year, which would focus on strengthening economic and fiscal stability. He did not elaborate.
In July last year, the ministry sold 80 billion baht of savings bonds, more than its target, to retail investors happy to get higher returns than on deposit rates. One-year fixed deposits pay about 1 percent and savings rates are just 0.5 percent at major banks. Last September the Bank of Thailand also raised 131 billion baht through savings bonds, more than double its original offer.
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