Showing 1 - 10 of 20
Risk of crisis growing more acute
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/03/2026
» This article is a follow-up to my previous piece titled "Fiscal deficit will trigger 2026 crisis". In that article, I argued Thailand's heavy dependence on external liquidity, combined with the government's need for 860 billion baht annually to finance its deficits, would lead to a severe liquidity shortage and, ultimately, a financial crisis.
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).
The baht is almost as good as gold
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 18/09/2025
» The baht is undoubtedly the strongest currency in the region. Over this year, the baht has appreciated 4.45% against the dollar while the Vietnamese dong has depreciated 8.47%.
Don't let politics mask economic woes
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 26/06/2025
» As if economic problems in Thailand are not bad enough, political issues add to the complications. The worst is the split in the coalition. Even with an overwhelming majority of 314 (out of 493 parliamentary seats) prior to the break-up, the government could not push for many major policies, including the 10,000 baht cash handout scheme.
Ability to pay key to debt restructuring
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 03/04/2025
» Last week's earthquake has provided Thais with two valuable lessons. First, Thailand has no national disaster management plan. No government agency seems to have had carefully thought-out plans and procedures to manage the situation. All measures were carried out on an ad-hoc basis. Worse, there appears to be no coordination among various agencies. Thais were left to rely on their own two feet as thousands of Bangkokians had no choice but to walk for hours to their homes when the mass transit railways were shutdown.
BoT, govt may have wrong inflation data
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 17/10/2024
» At the time of writing (Tuesday), the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had not met to decide on the policy interest rate which is currently set at 2.50%. The panel was scheduled to meet yesterday and the committee was under pressure to lower the rate by 25 basis points. The pressure arises from many months of low inflation rates and the recent strong Thai baht. Several central banks in the region have cut their policy interest rates for those two reasons. The latest one is the Bank of Korea.
Digital wallet tokens could hit scheme
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 08/08/2024
» I bet the government never thought of this when they thought of the Digital Wallet scheme. It probably does not make sense to it that there could be millions of people shunning pseudo money, namely Digital Wallet Tokens (DWTs). Perhaps, in the government's mind, a DWT is almost on a par with genuine money -- fiat money.
BoT is absolutely right in holding rates
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/02/2024
» The whole country -- the government, its economic agencies, private economic research houses, the private sector, and academics -- is accusing the Bank of Thailand (BoT) of being stubborn for refusing to lower interest rates to support the weak economy, aka, the economy in crisis.
Will foreign investors still be wooed?
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 28/12/2023
» This is my last article for 2023. Appropriately, I should write about the 2024 economic outlook but I have decided to postpone that to be the first article of 2024 as the analysis might be too unpleasant to digest right now. However, I will leave a "teaser" for readers to ponder over during the long holidays. As such, I am left with two choices: an article about informal debt -- I estimate outstanding debt to be over 400 billion baht and that it could have strong ties with grey money -- or an article about Thailand's ability to attract foreign investors, as our Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin travels all over the world to attract them. In the end, I opted for the latter.
2024 GDP forecast is wishful thinking
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 14/12/2023
» If one thinks 2023 was a not-so-good year for the Thai economy because GDP growth is likely below 2%, 2024 could be worse owing to three major economic risks: liquidity inadequacy, high gasoline price, and high electricity cost.