Showing 1 - 9 of 9
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.
Problems await the new BoT governor
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 04/09/2025
» The first problem incoming Bank of Thailand (BoT) governor Vitai Ratanakorn will face is political uncertainty.
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.
Will Thailand's economy cheat death?
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 23/01/2025
» 'He and the other survivors have briefly cheated death, but will not be able to evade their fate for very long." A movie buff will know this comes from Final Destination and the "he" in the quote refers to Alex Browing, the movie's main character.
GDP figures don't reflect real situation
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 26/12/2024
» This article is the last for 2024. I have made many bad predictions about the Thai economy throughout the year. Many became true, like the contracting credit market, the NPL explosion, and an ineffective cash handout programme. Many have not become true (or have they?). One was GDP growth. Instead of shrinking as I predicted, GDP growth rates improved from quarter to quarter. They were 1.6% for Q1, 2.2% for Q2, and 3.0% for Q3. And it is expected to be 3.5% for Q4 to fulfil the annual 2.6% growth projection.
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".
Thaksin's 'vision' might be outdated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.
Q2 GDP growth may be misleading
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/08/2024
» I eagerly awaited the release of the Q2/2024 GDP growth figure which became available on Monday. The 2.3% growth figure, presented by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), did not surprise me. A friend had warned me that the quarterly growth could be as high as 2.5%, even though my estimation for the quarter was only 1.0%.