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IMF denies Thailand to be released early from plan

BANGKOK: The International Monetary Fund denied on Tuesday that Thailand would be released early from a $17.2 billion economic rescue programme it entered at the beginning of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

In a front page story on Tuesday, the Asian Wall Street Journal said Thailand had won an early release from the IMF plan because of its good economic performance.

But IMF Asia Pacific division chief Ranjit Teja told Reuters Television the story was wrong.

"The early release point is simply not right. In fact the plan is Thailand to come off the IMF programme exactly on schedule, which is to say in June of this year," he said in an interview.

Thailand entered the IMF programme in August 1997 and has since then received regular policy guidance and financial assistance from the agency.

The Thai government has said it will start repaying the IMF and other international donor countries this year.-Reuters