Showing 1 - 10 of 15
Government stability tests performance
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/04/2026
» Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has gone from strength to strength, leveraging a stopgap minority government late last year into solid majority rule after the Feb 8 election.
Impacts of Iran war on Southeast Asia
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/03/2026
» For the most part, Southeast Asia as a region has taken a neutral stance toward the joint attack between the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Even the Philippines and Thailand, two formal US treaty allies, have distanced themselves, calling for restraint and de-escalation.
Thailand's central bank dependence
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/02/2024
» To proponents of central bank independence, the ongoing friction between Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin and Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput appears straightforward. The prime minister is putting unwarranted and unfair pressure on the central bank governor to spur the economy by loosening monetary policy and cutting interest rates. Yet, on closer scrutiny, the entrenched politicisation of central banking in Thailand may suggest otherwise. There is more than meets the eye in the politics of interest rate cuts.
Post-Covid headwinds hit the region
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/10/2022
» As the five economies in mainland Southeast Asia re-emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, their prospects for recovery and return to growth and development appear challenged, characterised by deteriorating balance of payments, fiscal weaknesses, currency depreciations, and rising inflation amidst global monetary tightening and recession risks.
Cambodia and Laos in the regional mix
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/09/2022
» As geopolitical tensions from Russian aggression in Ukraine and the ongoing United States-China rivalry intensify, Southeast Asia will be hard-pressed to maintain peace and security. Despite their relatively small size, Cambodia and Laos are two countries whose political trajectories will shape regional outcomes. While Cambodia has consolidated domestic political power with dynamic economic expansion, Laos is looking like a regional laggard facing a deep debt crisis. As Cambodia moves forward, Laos is at risk of being left behind.
Govt ducks Asean Myanmar challenge
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/04/2021
» Asean's highly anticipated "special" summit tomorrow in Jakarta on Myanmar's crisis can be declared moot on arrival. What goes into it is likely more telling that what will come out of it. Nearly three months and more than 730 civilian deaths after Myanmar's military coup on Feb 1, Asean is still unable to address its rogue member state's atrocities against its own people. The summit attendance foretells trends and dynamics of what might come next in Myanmar's fast-moving and deadly events on the ground and how they will shape regional responses and global concerns.
Domestic drivers of superpower rivalry
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/07/2020
» The coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally global but its impact is mainly local because of the international system of state sovereignty, borders and divergent national interests. What is needed to cope with, contain and overcome the pandemic is more international cooperation and coordination. But we are seeing less international efforts to fight the virus together and more self-help where every nation fends for itself. The upshot from this fractured and fragmented international system during Covid-19 is the primacy of domestic determinants of international outcomes. Nowhere is this reality clearer than the competition and confrontation between the United States and China.
Undue politicisation at finance and BoT
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/07/2020
» Thailand's economic growth projections continue to head south as the coronavirus crisis unfolds in the second half of the year. In its most recent forecast, the Bank of Thailand anticipates a sharp contraction of 8.1% this year, worse than the 5.3% it predicted in March. Downside macroeconomic risks are substantial as the Covid-19 pandemic could still degenerate and cause further global health and economic havoc. In this dire environment, Thailand will need steady and seasoned hands to oversee macroeconomic levers. Yet both the finance ministry portfolio and the BoT governorship now face uncertainty and potential politicisation that bode ill for effective and autonomous fiscal and monetary policies.
Geoeconomic implications of Covid-19
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/06/2020
» The longer the coronavirus pandemic wends its way around the world, the more it takes on permanent features. As case infections still persist virulently, especially in the US, Brazil, Russia and India, states, societies and individuals are being forced to make adjustments. There will be winners and losers in the geoeconomic competition for market shares and supply chains. Those with more effective public health systems will stand in good stead with opportunities to re-emerge less scathed and better positioned to carry on, whereas others with less adequate health infrastructure will face more risks and disadvantages. For the first time in generations, health security has become the main determinant in the fate of nations and peoples.
Thailand's strategic path is rudderless
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/06/2020
» As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc worldwide, domestic tension and pressure will compel three broad responses from the various afflicted countries. First, these countries may react to virus-induced domestic challenges by blaming and taking it out on outsiders. Alternatively, they may be so preoccupied at home that they become marginalised abroad. In other instances, countries that have coped effectively with Covid-19 will be able to regain their footing faster and move on sooner as the rest of the pack remains bogged down in acrimony and discord.