Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday approved a law change to allow the central bank to invest international reserves in equity instruments overseas to help diversify risks, the central bank governor said. The main purpose of the change was to broaden the investment of international reserves amid new challenges and volatility in global financial markets, Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob told reporters.
"This will make risk management more effective. It's not the set up of a sovereign wealth fund," he said, adding some countries' currencies and interest rates were moving in opposite directions to stock markets. Thailand's international reserves stood at $170.9 billion as of March 11.