Showing 1 - 10 of 34
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.
Making Cambodia pay for border row
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 02/10/2025
» What I am covering today is a sensitive issue that all economic research houses, both government and private, avoid talking about. That is the economic impact of the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
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.
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.
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.
Banks that don't want money bode ill
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 11/07/2024
» When is the last time readers experienced a situation like this? One takes money to deposit in a bank and the bank says please take your money elsewhere as we have no use for it. Such an unusual situation is happening in Thailand at this moment. Thai banks are reducing their credit portfolios and, consequently, reducing their needs for funding.
20 years of errors can't be fixed easily
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 30/05/2024
» I have a strong feeling that piecemeal measures are what the economy is going to get from the government to combat Thailand's long-standing economic problems.
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.
Reviving Thai economy is a tall order
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 27/07/2023
» By the time readers read this article, Thailand still does not have a real government. But judging from the game being played, it is not too hard to guess which party will lead a new government.