Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Tarisa Watanagase on Thursday voiced confidence that the Thai economy in 2010 would recover more quickly than that in 2009 due to the forecast by the United States Federal Reserve that the US economy will accomplish a turn-around late this year.

Mrs. Tarisa views the Thai economy in the first quarter this year as being better than its performance in the last quarter of 2008, and states that she believes the economy will not be in recession because state spending and investment had begun to accelerate.

She said the economy in the first quarter would contract definitely when compared with the same quarter last year, which saw economic growth of 6 per cent, but if compared with the last quarter of 2008, the first-quarter economy is expected to be an improvement.

The BoT chief conceded the economy for 2009 is likely to shrink in the same direction with that forecast by the National Economic and Social Development Board.

Mrs. Tarisa said she doubted the accuracy of the rating agency Moody's Investors Service's forecast that the Thai economy would grow worse than any other country in Asia. She said she did not know what information the agency had used to make the projection.