Showing 1 - 10 of 17
Thailand must manage debt to progress
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/01/2026
» This article may be read as a continuation of my previous piece, Year of the Debt. That article focused mainly on household debt, which has already risen beyond the ability of Thai consumers to repay.
Thailand now 'the sick man of Asean'
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 30/10/2025
» The inspiration for this article comes from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook (WEO) report for the month of October.
Thai-US trade talks are likely to fail
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 15/05/2025
» Don't get too excited over news the temporary trade deal between China and the US will mean friendly negotiations with other countries. The US government still aims for higher import tax income to narrow its monstrous fiscal deficit. As explained in a previous article, Donald Trump would love to see an average tariff rate of around 20% or higher on imports. Higher customs revenue already allowed the US to achieve a budget surplus of US$258 billion (8.5 trillion baht) in April. The figure incorporates only a 10% universal tariff, as full reciprocal tariffs were postponed for 90 days from April 8. Just imagine how nice the US budget position would be with 20% or more import tariff revenue?
Trump tariffs spell trouble for Thailand
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 14/11/2024
» Readers must have read a few articles or listened to numerous analyses of US President-elect Donald Trump's trade protectionism policy and its impact on the world economy, particularly China. But this could be the first genuinely economic-oriented analysis of Mr Trump's policy, emphasising issues relevant to Thailand. Readers could find that an economic approach would give new insights into this much talked about topic.
Stimulus packages need paradigm shift
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 03/10/2024
» Ever wonder why Thailand's economic growth is consistently lower than its peers? Even with a flood of foreign tourists of 28.1 million (154.4% growth) in 2023, our GDP growth was 1.9% compared to 5.5% in the Philippines, 5% in both Indonesia and Vietnam, and 3.7% in Malaysia. The growth figure for the first half of this year of 1.9% is far worse than many of our Asean friends.
Thaksin's 'vision' might be outdated
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/09/2024
» This article is not meant to diminish the brilliance of the spiritual leader of the Pheu Thai Party, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is to demonstrate that, despite his immense knowledge and vast experience, Thailand's current economic problems are caused by structural deficiencies and cannot be resolved by traditional stimulus measures. One needs a good understanding of economic principles to approach the problems correctly.
Govt, BoT spat may not be economic
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 09/05/2024
» The row between the government and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) over its "high" interest rate is all over the news. Many have started questioning the appropriateness of the central bank's independence.
Time to stop making empty promises
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/03/2024
» The Nikkei 225 Index just broke 40,000, surpassing the record high of 1989. The stellar stock market performance happened amid the fact that Japan's economy is officially in recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
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.
When times get tough, Thais party
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/09/2023
» Today's article is far from being sarcastic towards or mocking Thais. On the contrary, it explains the current weakness of the economy and, more importantly, the serious implications for the effectiveness of the government's economic stimulus packages. So, this article is recommended reading for the new economic team.