Showing 41 - 50 of 52
Homework for the new bank governor
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 04/06/2020
» The term of the governor of the Bank of Thailand will expire on Sept 30 and as incumbent governor Veerathai Santiprabhob has announced he will not seek a second term citing family reasons, the selection process for his replacement has begun.
It's time to face grim Covid-19 reality
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/05/2020
» At the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, there emerged an outbreak containment option called "Hurt and then ending" which in Thai is jeb tae jop. The complete lockdown of Wuhan was a prime example of that. In Thailand, the lockdown measure was first implemented in Buri Ram before it become a standard practice nationwide. The effectiveness of the measures varies across the globe -- from a seemingly complete success story in Wuhan to a not-yet sustained success in Spain, to a success and then failure in Singapore. I do not think anybody doubts the effectiveness of the lockdown on controlling the outbreak, but many, including myself, are starting to come out and question the cost of lockdown, which I have previously mentioned.
Lockdown pain worse than virus?
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 23/04/2020
» You have seen it in the news - strings of protests against the Covid-19 lockdowns of cities and countries around the world. Protests ran the gamut from 20 states in the US, to Brazil, India and as far away as Lebanon. To protesters, economic pain is more real than the death threat from the virus. Are these people unreasonable? How could livelihoods be more important than lives?
Virus plus oil crisis spells recession
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 12/03/2020
» All economists, including myself, predict the spread of Covid-19 will put a big brake on economic growth through reductions in spending, particularly on travel. Assuming the virus outbreak lasts for about six months, the lower spending will likely last until the fourth quarter. Countries like Thailand, which depend heavily on foreign tourist revenue, will be hurt the most.
Can economy weather Covid-19 storm?
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 27/02/2020
» As of Wednesday, there were 80,991 confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus known as Covid-19, spread across 41 countries and territories. But explaining health issues is not the purpose of this article. I will leave that to medical and infection experts. The purpose here is to determine the economic impacts of the spread of Covid-19, particularly on the Thai economy.
Virus outbreak comes at the worst time
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 30/01/2020
» The coronavirus outbreak is not the first time the world has experienced an infectious disease at pandemic level. The first well-documented pandemic was the Plague of Justinian that struck in the 6th Century. The plague killed 25-50 million people which was a lot given the population then.
Bank of Thailand lands in hot water
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 16/01/2020
» It caught almost everyone by surprise when the baht strengthened past the psychological level of 30 baht per US dollar during the New Year holidays.
Time to bring the baht to heel for sake of economy
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/11/2019
» Complaints about the strong baht are growing louder by the month. Many are puzzled at why Thailand's currency keeps appreciating despite a weakening economy and falling exports. At the beginning of the year, the US dollar/baht rate was at 32.33. As of Wednesday, the baht had strengthened to 30.18 per dollar.
Take economic data with a grain of salt
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/11/2019
» Originally, I planned to write an article titled "Albert Einstein and baht exchange rate". Then I said to myself, "Nope, let's not write another serious article this week". So, I decided to go for a lighter one about international rankings and ratings which the government often cites to reiterate that the Thai economy is in good shape. I never have understood why governments like to do this. Nobody cares about these figures. They care about their businesses, their jobs and their debts.
Fresh QE won't stop global recession
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 26/09/2019
» I have to apologise because this article will not be easy to read. I will try my best to explain things in the simplest way possible. However, global financial issues are difficult and complex in nature. If you feel that you do not want to be bothered with the complexity of the issue, I will give the conclusions of today's article now.