At the seminar “Unlocking Thailand’s Future: Overcoming the Global Crisis,” former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra delivered a keynote address focusing on the current challenges facing Thailand’s stock and capital markets. He emphasized the urgent need for recovery to reignite hope and restore investor confidence.
Thaksin pointed out that the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index has steadily declined from 1,600 points to just 1,200 points. He attributed this drop in part to “short selling” and the fact that once foreign investors have sold their shares, their capital has not returned to the Thai market. He remarked, “Money goes where it can generate returns. If there’s no profit to be made here, it will move elsewhere. This is capitalism.” Such a situation, Thaksin said, has left LTF and RMF fund investors unwilling to even check their portfolios—let alone think about the future.
The former prime minister identified the main issue in the Thai stock market today as a lack of “Trust and Confidence”, insisting that restoring these is the top priority. To address this, Thaksin proposed several measures and observations:
Reform Outdated Regulations and Enforce Accountability: Thaksin cited the example of Stark Corp., which submitted fraudulent financial statements. Yet, the accounting firm involved faced no significant legal consequences; only the individual auditor was penalized. He argued that accounting firms themselves should be held responsible and face license suspensions, since clients choose firms based on trust in the company as a whole, not just individual auditors.
Control on Highly Volatile Stocks: Thaksin also discussed certain companies that have a significant weighting in the market but low share turnover or free float, causing extreme volatility and, at times, price manipulation from abroad—as in the case of Delta Electronics (Thailand) Public Company Limited (SET: DELTA). He suggested that such highly volatile stocks should be excluded from index calculations.
Encourage Treasury Stock Repurchases: Thaksin suggested that if a company’s owners truly believe their securities are undervalued and have growth potential, they should undertake treasury stock repurchases (buybacks). Some state enterprises have already begun such measures to express confidence in their own potential. However, the tax exemptions related to share buybacks have only recently been introduced.
Thaksin stressed that addressing these issues is essential for unlocking Thailand’s economic potential and restoring confidence among both domestic and international investors.
