Showing 1 - 10 of 54
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.
Policy options for an overvalued baht
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 25/12/2025
» This is the last article of 2025. I have to thank readers for following my articles throughout the years. I believe I wrote my first article for the Bangkok Post in January 2020. So, it has been a five-year collaboration with the paper. Thank you, Bangkok Post.
VAT hikes alone won't narrow deficit
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 27/11/2025
» This article is not meant to attack Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) for the fiscal years from 2026 to 2030. It is meant to emphasise the fragility of a Thai fiscal position that requires multiple revenue enhancement measures.
Dealing with Trump is half the story
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/08/2025
» This will be an eye-opening article. It is an analysis that readers have not read anywhere. No one seems to realise that after a mega-earthquake in the ocean, giant tsunamis will always follow. If Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs are comparable to a mega economic earthquake, President Xi Jinping's reactions will have the impact of a giant economic tsunami.
Backing Trump on tariffs, not on tone
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 17/04/2025
» I'm not a Donald Trump supporter. On the contrary, I dislike the US president for his abrasive behaviour. For Mr Trump, everything is nothing but numbers. Compassion has no meaning in his dictionary.
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.
Little cause for optimism in year ahead
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 09/01/2025
» One would expect the first article of the year to be about economic predictions. I will certainly do that but not in today's article. It will be in my next one. The reason being that my predictions will not be as positive as those of others.
Household debt plan has many flaws
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 28/11/2024
» It is unanimously agreed that household debt is one of the major economic problems of Thailand. Non-performing loans (NPL) from household debt amount to 1.2 trillion baht according to the National Credit Bureau (NCB). If it includes Special Mentioned (SM) debt (31-90 days of default), the bad debt level would rise to 1.7 trillion baht, or about 12.3% of total household debt outstanding.
Zombie banking deepens economic woes
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 19/09/2024
» This is the second of three articles, following the earlier article "Problems with Dr Thaksin's Visions". The series will end with an article titled "Call for a paradigm shift".
Digital wallet scheme poses credit risk
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 25/07/2024
» During the debate on the extra-fiscal budget for 2024 of 1.22 billion baht to fund the digital wallet (DW) scheme, the government presented the bright side of the figurative coin. This article will present the dark side of the scheme.