Thailand: Likely Finance Minister outlines plans

The man tipped to be Thailand's new minister of foreign and economic affairs -- the deputy leader of the Thai Rak Thai party, Dr Surakiat Sasira-tai -- has been outlining his priorities for the economy.

He told the BBC he would forge ahead with controversial plans to restructure small-scale farmers' debt and introduce village-based micro-credit schemes. He said the government would suspend interest payments for three years on the loans of twenty-million farmers and would provide one-million baht -- around twenty-three-thousand dollars -- for more than seventy-thousand village-based micro-credit schemes. He also said that by investing at a grassroots level and putting monetary resources into areas other than the financial sector, local economies would be stimulated and the plans would have a positive effect on the overall economy.

The Thai Rak Thai party -- which promised significant spending to boost the economy -- won a landslide victory in last Saturday's election. The party's leader -- businessman Thaksin Shinawatra -- is holding negotiations with other parties to build a coalition government.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service