Showing 1 - 10 of 14
2026 will be a year of debt struggles
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 08/01/2026
» Forget GDP growth. Forget tourist arrivals. Forget export figures. In 2026, Thailand's overriding economic challenge will not be growth but debt repayment.
Is a return to gold standard possible?
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 11/12/2025
» We are now in the middle of the holiday season. Therefore, I will refrain from writing about heavy and depressing issues like the Thai economy and the outlook for 2026 and beyond. In this moment of joy, I will write about the possibility of returning to the gold standard, which some supporters say can be seen in central banks aggressively buying gold bullion to replace the dubious US dollar. The last article of the year will be about the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).
Thailand has lost its last growth engine
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 29/05/2025
» Thailand has lost its last engine of growth and people are abandoning hope for a decent life.
3.2% GDP growth 'pie in the sky'
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 11/01/2024
» This year must be my lucky year. One of the key points of this article is to underline the risk of financial crisis compared to 1997. But this time it would not come from bank failures, it would come from defaults on corporate bonds and commercial papers. The reasons are the low cash position of corporates from many years of weak economic performance and, most importantly, today's super-tight domestic liquidity to refinance matured bonds and papers. I am a little wary that readers may scorn such a bold opinion. However, out of the blue, my opinion was proven correct on Monday when Italian-Thai Development (ITD) announced the postponement of payments on its bonds due in 2024 to 2026 with a total value of 14.45 billion baht for two years.
Liquidity shortage a big risk for govt
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 16/11/2023
» Liquidity is the most ignored issue in economics. Liquidity is considered to be like "oxygen" which is readily available when needed and, thus, has no intrinsic value.
No choice but to open the economy
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 14/10/2021
» There are not many countries on this planet that depend on outside markets like Thailand. Exports of goods account for 54% of GDP while foreign tourism income accounts for another 12% -- totaling 66% of GDP. The rest is made up by domestic private consumption.
No money left to ease Covid blues
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 13/05/2021
» In the second quarter of 2020, the Thai economy shrank as much as 12.1%, resulting in a loss of 610 billion baht in GDP. Such a huge loss was the impact of Covid-19, caused by fear of the pandemic, the impact of strict lockdown measures, and a loss of revenue from foreign tourists.
New lockdown bodes economic misery
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/01/2021
» My first article of the year cannot be about anything but the Covid-19 lockdown. Actually, I planned to write about the two-month disappearance of the world-famous Jack Ma -- founder of Alibaba and Alipay. He has an innovative idea to revolutionise the Chinese financial system but his revolutionary idea was not agreeable with Chinese authorities and caused him to "disappear". What interests me is not China's internal affairs. But his idea, once put into use, will revolutionise the global economy as well. Milton Friedman (a Nobel Prize laureate in Economics and the father of monetary policy) and his Optimum Quantity of Money theory will become useless. His idea, if taken far enough, might be able to pull the world economy out of the Covid slump. Sound interesting? Readers have to wait until my next article, which will come in two weeks' time.
Can a V-shaped recovery happen now?
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/11/2020
» This article is written especially for the Bank of Thailand.
Economy, not rallies, should worry govt
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/10/2020
» Economics and politics are inseparable. The current nationwide demonstrations against the government might appear to have only political agendas, but the underlying driving force of the burgeoning demonstrations might be economics. The question is "why now?". The prime minister has been in office since early 2019 and, if one counts his previous term, he has been in office since mid-2014. Furthermore, the current constitution has been in effect since 2017.