`Growth Tigers'

Growth Tigers

As his country reeled, Bhumibol outlined his goals in his December 1997 birthday address. He urged Thailand to stop trying to become one of Asia's growth tigers.

So many projects have been implemented, so many factories have been built, that it was thought Thailand would become a little tiger, and then a big tiger, the king said. People were crazy about becoming a tiger.

Instead, he said, Thais needed to settle for an economy sufficient for their needs. We have to take a careful step backwards, he said.

Amid the carnage at the time, companies controlled by the king stood out for their transparency, Backman says in his book. Executives talked to creditors and discussed how to reschedule loans.

Siam Cement issued $2.5 billion of local currency debentures to replace foreign exchange loans and paid back all of its debts. No one was fired from its staff. ``We never asked for a haircut,''

Kan says. Different Story, The story was different elsewhere. Prachai Leophairatana, founder of Thai Petrochemical Industry Pcl, which was Thailand's biggest defaulter ever, stopped paying interest on $2.7 billion of debt in 1997.

He kept creditors and the government at bay for eight years before being forced out, enabling the company to be taken over and debt repaid.

Crown Property has embraced the king's philosophy of sufficiency, says Chirayu Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, who as director general of the bureau is the king's chief money manager. That means investing in a few companies that are essential to the country's stability, he says.

The bureau's policy focuses on long-term and low-risk investments, Chirayu writes in The Crown Property Bureau on the Path of Sustainability.

The bureau chooses to invest in businesses that not only boost social and economic value but are also linked to the country's monarchy and the country's history.
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