the economy to continue to maintain its momentum, it is important that we see in thailand this year a stronger turnaround in domestic demand, especially in private sector investment. for the global financial markets, i think three important implications are likely to emerge from this year's slower growth. first, inflation is likely to be less of a policy concern across the major economies compared to last year. this means liquidity should continue to be ample as monetary policy in the major economies need to focus less on inflation. ample global liquidity, therefore, will be a positive factor for financial markets this year. second, structurally, the us dollar may need to stay with its softening tone on account of the moderated us growth and the possible narrowing of interest rate differentials that used to benefit the us dollar. this is a conjecture consistent with the current market's fundamental view. and third, because of ample liquidity, cross - border capital flows look to gain further momentum this year as international investors continue to search for yield and move further ahead on asset reallocation and diversification. this last implication is important for the region, because it will mean continued flows of capital into asia, putting pressure on the region's exchange rates and asset prices. therefore, managing the macro implications of persistent capital inflows, as well as the risk of volatile and abrupt capital outflows, will be, in my view, an important policy challenge this year. to me, the context underlying these implications relates very closely to the process of the unwinding of global imbalance. such unwinding, as we know, requires a weaker path of the us dollar and higher us interest rates. a weaker us dollar is something that we have been seeing. as for interest rates, going forward, it is not yet certain whether the us long rates would need to rise in order to facilitate the financing of the us current account deficit. this would depend essentially on the relative ease with which the us deficit can be financed. so, i think we need to watch these developments closely because financial markets can adjust much more rapidly than the real side of the economy. turning to the thai economy. last year, the economy showed considerable resilience, notwithstanding many adverse shocks affecting it, especially the higher oil price and political uncertainties at home. growth, estimated at about 5 percent last year by the market, is satisfactory while the second round effects of the oil price increase on inflation were well contained. overall, the economy's

firms in thailand adopting the ias39 accounting rules for the valuation of collaterals, which will affect their loan provisioning. we will see the bank of thailand implementing consolidated supervision, and we will see the whole financial system going through a formal fsap assessment with the imf. all these will happen this year, and all these will be positive developments for our financial system. so, 2007 should be another active and positive year for the global markets and for thailand. but given the uncertainties that still loom in the global markets, i think maybe we should move to meet the optimism and the challenge of this year cautiously. but this is the words coming from a central bank, which probably and usually sounds too careful. so, i guess now you may want to hear something different from michael spencer and his team. so, on this note, let me end my brief remarks and wish you all a successful conference. again i want to thank deutsche bank for the invitation, and a happy new year to all of you. thank you.