Thai Government Will Increase Overseas Investment

Thailand economy grows more than expected becase of government investment and tourism, In order to maintain the flow,Thai's Government Pension Fund is planning to increase its investment in developed-nations equities.

Thailand's Government Fund (GPF) is a government body that manage the pension fund for all government employees in Thailand. GPF was established in 1997 in accordance to Government Pension Act issued by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1996. The Fund is established to provide additional contribution scheme to existing benefit scheme for government employees.

According to Bloomberg, GPF manages about 708 billion baht ($19.8 billion) in retirement funds for more than 1 million state employees. The Fund will consider to buy equities in Japan and Europe, and may also acquire real estate in Europe and Asia. The investment decision is taken as government approves to increase its overseas investment to 30% of assets. Previously, the government limited the overseas exposure to 25%.

Bangkok Post reported that GPF plan to increase investment is taken to anticipate higher US interest rates weigh on emerging-market assets. While GPF's investment in Thai stocks and government bond returns to the low 3.59% in the first 10 months of the year from 6.75% in 2014. In regard to increase investment in overseas equities, Yingyong Nilasena, Chief Investment Officer of GPF said, "Developed-market equities will have a better outlook than those of emerging markets on concerns about fund outflows and slowing growth."

This year, Thailand's economy has experienced a better than expected growth. Previously, a prolonged political turmoil in 2013 reduced the number of tourist visiting Thailand significantly in 2014. This year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) introduce a new campaign to attract more tourists visiting Thailand. The campaign was entitled "Discover Thai, " and Thai expected a large number of tourists to come to Thailand with its new campaign.

The result to boost income from tourism industry has produced a positive result. As reported by Singapore Strait Time, tourism and government's stimulus spending help increase growth of Thai's economy. According to report issued by National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), gross domestic product of Thailand increase 2.9% from last year's result. Government spending and tax benefit from six stimulus packages in October and November also help to boost Thai's economy. According to NESDB, this year's increase is the fastest in three years, as Porametee Vimolsiri, secretary-general of NESDB said, "If things go as we expect, the economy will continue to recover this year and next."

As government investment and tourism has successfully boost its economy's growth, Thai government will continue to increase its exposure on overseas investment. Government Pension Fund that manage almost $20 billion of fund will start to buy equities in Japan and Europe.