However, the government’s top economics official concedes he has concerns over how the country will square up to the challenges posed by the transition to a digital economy.

Speaking after the opening of the Money Expo 2018 event yesterday, Somkid said: “If GDP (gross domestic product) expands 4 per cent this year, that will move the country forward. Currently, Thai economic indicators in both consumption and investment are all positive. Foreign investment has risen impressively.”

The economy expanded 1 per cent in 2014 and 3.9 per cent in 2017.

Next week, government representatives from Macau, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore will visit Thailand – with economic matters sure to be high on the agenda.

However, Thailand continues to face challenges and Somkid flagged that his biggest concern is the country’s preparedness for the digital economy – an issue on which he had not previously aired doubts.

“In the future, digital technology will change everything and for those who do not follow the trend, they will face difficulties,” he said.

The government has been accelerating its investment in digital technology and infrastructure, he said, urging collaboration between the private and public sectors.

Other challenges present in the form of economic changes in trading partners and shift in geopolitics, along with Thailand’s weak competitiveness, he said.

Attention in the real economy should be focused particularly on the financial sector, which will drive the economy and help it catch up with technological changes and the transition to a cashless society, he said.

“The government realises the importance of these things and wants to promote them, while the supervisory units must catch up with the trends and not just prohibit everything. Though they should try to reduce risks. The private sector has to get prepared,” Somkid said.

In regard to the country’s efforts on Big Data, the public and private sectors should collaborate for greater efficiency and effectiveness in several industries.

Yesterday at Money Expo 2018, which runs until Sunday at Impact Mueang Thong Thani, banks, non-bank financial institutions, insurance companies, brokerages houses and fund firms presented their best deals.

The offerings extend from housing loans with zero interest for one year, reverse mortgages with zero interest for two years and step-up special deposit rates at 4 per cent to SME loans with interest rates of 1 per cent.

The Government Saving Bank is offering zero per cent interest for the first year of its mortgages l and a deposit interest rate up to four per cent. Bank of Ayudhya if offering a 0.5 per cent rate for the first six months of its mortgages, while Siam Commercial Bank offers a fix interest rate of 3.7 per cent for the first two years for its mortgages.

The event’s organisers expects financial transactions from the expo will exceed the Bt116.3 billion generated at last year’s event.