Showing 1 - 10 of 25
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.
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%.
1% GDP growth impacts will be severe
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 21/08/2025
» Where did I get the idea that GDP growth in the second half of 2025 would only be 1.0%? The answer is the government, as the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) told me so.
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.
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's tariff trade war is no accident
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 01/05/2025
» President Donald Trump's tariff policy has received numerous criticisms from various parties, including several Nobel Prize laureates, for being against the economic principles of free trade.
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.
The economy is waiting to hit an iceberg
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 20/03/2025
» This is not a scene from the 1997 film Titanic. On the evening of April 14th 1912, a small Canadian fishing boat, skippered by a French-Canadian captain called "Jacques-Chai", approached the Titanic wanting to convey a very important message to Captain Edward Smith. The message was that there was a sea of icebergs, one was particularly big, about 200 miles ahead.
Risk of financial crisis creeps ever closer
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 06/02/2025
» When I started writing this article last week, I said to myself: "This might be another article no one will believe." Financial crisis? You must be out of your mind. The situation seems to be under control and it is likely to improve in 2025. After all, the Ministry of Finance has projected GDP growth for this year to be 2.5% to 3.5%, with a base case of 3.0%. No crisis can happen under such healthy growth, surely.