• OPINION

  2024 financial crisis may be a silent one

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 04/04/2024

  » When an economy faces a financial crisis, it can create a big bang like the mass collapse of financial institutions such as during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Thai Tum Yum Kung crisis of 1997, the Japanese financial crisis in late 1997, and the US Hamburger crisis of 2008.

• OPINION

  Downsides to digital cash handout plan

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 21/09/2023

  » I announced in a previous article that today's story would focus on liquidity and debt. But after careful consideration, I have decided to postpone this for another fortnight. The main reason being that I want to wait for the Bank of Thailand's economic data release for August due out on Sept 29.

• OPINION

  Signs of economic slowdown alarming

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 12/01/2023

  » The Thai government, businesses, and citizens are cherishing the news of returning Chinese tourists with the first group of 286 passengers who arrived on Monday. The Tourism Authority of Thailand estimates that 5 million Chinese tourists will visit our country this year, bringing with them 250 billion baht in spending money. I have two comments on this joyful news. Firstly, the ban on the sale of outbound group and package travel imposed by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Jan 27, 2020, is still in effect. There is no telling when this ban will be relaxed or lifted. Second, the mass arrival of Chinese tourists was already factored into the World Bank's GDP growth projections. The Bank projected that the Thai economy would grow by 3.6% in 2023. To achieve such growth, the arrival of 22.4 million foreign tourists, with 6.2 million from China, was assumed.

• OPINION

  BMA sorely needs financial advisers

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/09/2022

  » On Sept 7, 2022, the Central Administrative Court ordered the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) and its wholly owned subsidiary Krungthep Thanakom (KT) to pay Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company (BTS) back overdue Operating and Maintenance (O&M) fees on extensions 1 and 2 of the Green Line (Sky Train) in the amount of 11.75 billion baht within 180 days.

• OPINION

  City Hall needs a much larger budget

  News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 30/06/2022

  » This article is a welcome gift to Bangkok's new governor, Chadchart Sittipunt.

• OPINION

  No money left to ease Covid blues

  News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 13/05/2021

  » In the second quarter of 2020, the Thai economy shrank as much as 12.1%, resulting in a loss of 610 billion baht in GDP. Such a huge loss was the impact of Covid-19, caused by fear of the pandemic, the impact of strict lockdown measures, and a loss of revenue from foreign tourists.

• OPINION

  When an economist meets a psychic

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 04/02/2021

  » I enjoy reading prophecies. There is one thing fortune tellers and economists have in common: they make predictions. As an economist, I use my knowledge, theories and actual data, to check whether these prophecies make economic sense.

• OPINION

  Let me play the role of Nostradamus

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 17/12/2020

  » Time flies. The dreadful year of 2020 is coming to a close. Therefore, I've decided to have fun by writing something "comical". No earth-shattering economic analysis. That will be the next article. This week I will make educated predictions of things that might happen in the year 2021. I am no fortune teller, but I will try my best.

• OPINION

  Not looking like Xmas this year, or next

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 03/12/2020

  » Everybody has high hopes for the year 2021. Stock markets seem to think so. The Dow Jones Industrial average started the year at around the 29,000 mark and dropped by one-third to 20,000 when Covid-19 became a global threat in late March. Today, despite the second, third, and fourth rounds of outbreaks around the globe, Dow Jones is approaching the 30,000 mark.

• OPINION

  Will vaccines end our economic slump?

  Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 19/11/2020

  » In the past week alone, we heard three good pieces of news about the success of Covid-19 vaccine developments from Pfizer, Moderna and Russia. All of them claim to have an above 90% efficacy rate. I was rather sceptical about Pfizer's vaccine for actual distribution for two reasons. First, the vaccine is required to be stored at -75C and lasts only five days in the refrigerator. Clearly, this vaccine is not appropriate for use outside the United States. Therefore, I am not surprised to learn that the CEO of the company unloaded his company's shares after the news was announced.

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