Thailand S Economic Recovery

Thailand is a society in political, economic and social transition. Change is happening to varying degrees-at the national level and at the regional level where there are contrasting issues. Changes are positive, some are negative. This book looks at the various aspects of change as it impacts on business and the lives of the people.

"Thailand is one of the most successful developing countries. After decades of rapid growth, the economy rebounded quickly from the 1997-98 Asian crisis and is set to continue its expansion into the future. Nevertheless, there are doubts about the resilience of the Thai economy. The country appears to be on a lower growth projectory now than before the crisis. What growth can Thailand realistically expect? And what can the government do to sustain such growth into the future? Using a new methodology for identifying binding constraints to growth (Rodrik 2004 and Hausmann and others 2005), the author argues that Thailand's challenge is to maintain growth levels of 4 to 5 percent over the medium term. To achieve this goal, Thailand needs to continue its efforts of improving business infrastructure, trade integration, and skills, as well as intensifying its governance reforms."--World Bank web site.

Thailand Beyond the Crisis includes recent research to give an accurate and up to date picture of the status of Thailand's economic recovery. The Asian economic crisis began in Thailand and ended a decade of sustained economic boom. This book identifies the role of policy errors involving both the Thai government and the IMF that lead to the crash of the fastest growing economy in the world. Warr addresses the consequences of the crisis, including sharply increased poverty incidence and a backlog of non- performing loans which clogged the banking system, delaying recovery. Key content includes: * the Social Consequences of the crisis, and alternatives * public sector reform * implications of a floating exchange rate * education * urbanisation and the environment.

Thailand is one of the most successful developing countries. After decades of rapid growth, the economy rebounded quickly from the 1997-98 Asian crisis and is set to continue its expansion into the future. Nevertheless, there are doubts about the resilience of the Thai economy. The country appears to be on a lower growth projectory now than before the crisis. What growth can Thailand realistically expect? And what can the government do to sustain such growth into the future? Using a new methodology for identifying binding constraints to growth (Rodrik 2004 and Hausmann and others 2005), the author argues that Thailand's challenge is to maintain growth levels of 4 to 5 percent over the medium term. To achieve this goal, Thailand needs to continue its efforts of improving business infrastructure, trade integration, and skills, as well as intensifying its governance reforms.

While Thailand’s health system has fared relatively well through the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s economy faced significant strains and likely a harsher downturn than other economies in Southeast Asia. In particular, the services sector—heavily reliant on international tourism—suffered, and debt levels worsened substantially during the pandemic. Thailand’s economy has steadily recovered following the peak of the pandemic in 2020, with greater optimism coming from the growing trade in goods and growing investments from China and Japan. The tourism sector has also steadily regained strength since the worst points of the pandemic. Despite these recent positive turns, Thailand still faces daunting long-term economic and societal challenges, many of which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Household finances appear increasingly stressed and debt levels have risen sharply across the economy. It is unlikely that Thailand will be able to return its tourism industry to 2019 conditions for the next several years. Meanwhile, deteriorating demographics and education enrolments pose serious threats to long-term macroeconomic prospects. Thailand’s population of young people is falling, but the country appears to lack momentum in elevating enrolment rates and improving the quality in secondary and tertiary education. The agriculture sector remains large, with some crop diversification but with limited gains in productivity, in the face of rising competition—for instance, from India and Vietnam. Policymakers may aim to revitalize Thailand’s economic prospects with policies aimed, for instance, at enhancing agricultural productivity, combining and internationalizing higher education institutions, easing restrictions on foreign investments, and promoting greater competition by smaller enterprises against large conglomerates, in addition to efforts to improve on transparency and stability, and reduce corruption, within Thailand’s political system.

Working paper presented at the UWS Nepean School of Economics and Finance Seminar in April 1999, examining the Thai economy from 1986 onwards, concluding that the economy is at present in recession and looking at prospects for expansion.

Four years since the onset of the financial crisis, Thailand’s economic recovery remains fragile and is now threatened by a sharp slowdown in external demand. Bank and corporate sector restructuring policies have formed a key focus of the Article IV discussions. An important initiative to accelerate bank and corporate restructuring is the recent establishment of the Thai Asset Management Corporation (TAMC). An inadequate legal framework has been a major impediment to corporate debt restructuring. Even with an acceleration of bank and corporate restructuring, questions will remain about medium-term growth prospects.