2013 to be Year of Thailand: Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra

 Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Saturday said she wants 2013 to be the Year of Thailand, where the country's economy is growing and confidence will be restored.
Prime Minister Yingluck expressed her wish in a weekly televised program "PM Yingluck Government Meets the People" on the occasion of Chinese New Year. Yingluck said she wishes the Thai people health and wealth.
She said after the 2011 nationwide flooding, the country has improved in several aspects including the economy, and that confidence has been restored among the world community.
The economy is growing well due to increased purchasing power of the Thais and the inflow of foreign investment which can be seen from their requests for investment promotion from the Board of Investment (BoI), rising from 23.5 to 47 billion U.S. dollars, said Yingluck.
The premier said, to make the economy grow sustainably, the government will invest in infrastructure development of 74 billion dollars.
The projects will stimulate domestic purchasing power and prepare the country for the Association of South East Asian Nations Economic Community (AEC) which will take effect in 2015.
Yingluck however added that the government will have to clarify its investments in mega-projects to the public.