Thailand expects to complete its negotiations over a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of next year, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said yesterday during a state visit to France. In a statement issued after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris, the Thai leader … Read more
China’s electric vehicles (EVs) have made serious inroads in Southeast Asia in recent years. Around 75 percent of the region’s EV market is made up of Chinese vehicles. The sales of China’s Wuling Air EV increased by 65.2 percent in 2023, becoming the second most purchased EV brand in Indonesia. Last year, China’s BYD remained … Read more
Debt-stricken Sri Lanka signed a trade pact with Thailand on Saturday in a bid to boost trade and investment as the Indian Ocean island nation is struggling to recover from its worst economic crisis that hit two year ago. The Sri Lanka-Thailand Free Trade Agreement covering trade in goods, investment, custom procedures, and intellectual property … Read more
Thailand’s 500 billion baht ($14.3 billion) “digital wallet” stimulus plan is on track to proceed on schedule in May, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told reporters yesterday, despite some lingering uncertainty about his government’s use of loans to pay for the scheme. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Srettha, who also serves as Thailand’s finance minister, said that … Read more
Thailand and China will permanently waive visa requirements for each other’s citizens from March in a bid to boost travel between the two countries, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced yesterday. The move follows Thailand’s introduction of a temporary visa waiver for Chinese nationals in September, which was due to expire at the end of … Read more
On December 26, 2023, the Thai Cabinet approved a 2.37 percent hike in the minimum wage, sparking a nuanced discussion about its economic implications and associated concerns regarding competitiveness. As Thailand navigates this contentious issue, a forward-looking strategy involves comprehensive long-term planning to adapt to evolving economic landscapes. Beyond numerical figures, the debate centers on … Read more
Thailand is on track to meet the government’s tourism target for 2023, though a full recovery from the downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic likely remains several years off. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said yesterday that the country had welcomed 25.8 million foreign tourists from January 1 to November … Read more
On November 20, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin expressed concern over the significantly slower-than-anticipated growth in the third quarter. The economy grew by just 1.5 percent for the July-September quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) reported last week, compared to the 2.4 percent predicted by economists, the second consecutive quarter of easing … Read more
2023 has not been a stellar year for the Thai economy. The Bank of Thailand was projecting GDP to grow by 3.6 percent for the year, but that figure was later revised down to 2.8 percent. This is mostly because Thailand’s economy is built around exports of goods and services, especially tourism. Since 2021, policymakers … Read more
It would be no exaggeration to say that Thailand is a country in deep distress. Its economy, though not exactly bad, is sluggish. The Thai population is among the fastest aging on earth, hence the disappearing workforce and more demand for healthcare services (these are real first-world problems, yet Thailand remains classified as an upper … Read more