The situation was, however, much more complicated. Many of the Thaksin’s
government policies, both populist or otherwise, have been carried out through non-budgetary
means, so they do not show up in the traditional budgetary or public debt measures. If one
only pays attention to the normal budget and public debt figures, it would be like looking at
foreign reserves only in relation to the number of months of imports like before the crisis. This
would be dangerous. There are many reasons why one needs to look beyond the regular
budget and public debt figures.