Thailand
Maize is a relatively new crop in Thailand, but since commercial production began in the 1950s it has become the second most important crop in terms of planted area and one of the country's top four agricultural exports. Major changes are occurring in the maize market in Thailand. On the supply side, increased production through land expansion will be curtailed in the future to prevent further destruction of forest areas and the area under cultivation actually reduced. On the demand side, until recently most maize was exported, but the rapid increase in domestic demand for livestock feed brings the future of exports into question. Higher yields could be achieved with current maize varieties through the increased application of fertilizer. However, not only is fertilizer expensive (the price of nitrogen is about six times the price of maize): there are also risks involved in applying fertilizer in Thailand's mainly rain-fed production conditions.
Public sector maize research in ...
Two key developments affected Thai agriculture in the last decade: the precipitous decline (until 1988) in world prices for the major agricultural items exported by Thailand, and the decline in the amount of cultivable land available for each agricultural worker.
During this same period the Thai economy has experienced a slowdown in the rate of growth of real GDP and an increase in the extent of poverty, the first time this has happened since statistics on poverty became available in 1963. As these economy-wide developments and the adverse changes specific to agriculture coincided, it came to be widely believed that the one is the cause of the other. This paper sets out to examine the validity of this belief, using an applied general equilibrium model (the THAM-2).
The simulations indicate that the effect of the agriculture-associated changes on the Thai economy can be quite substantial. Liberalization of rice alone will increase real GDP by 2 to 3 per cent. Had the world ...
This study has three basic objectives. First, it estimates the subsidy rates for the officially supported external financing received by the Thai public sector. Second, it attempts to provide some analysis of the impact of this concessional funding on the domestic allocation of resources. Third, it aims to estimate the supply and demand functions for the officially supported export credits received by Thailand from 1976 to 1985.
A relatively detailed review of the period from 1975 to 1985 revealed a deteriorating external debt situation for Thailand. External public debt rose from a low of US$900 million in 1973 to US$12.8 billion in 1985 with comparable public debt service ratios of 2.9 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. This occurred despite the customary conservative external borrowing policy of the Thai government and its centralized administrative control of public debt creation.
Concessional ODA financing averaged 21 per cent of total net financial flows in ...
This paper presents the results of a survey of the impact of regulations and taxes on small and micro enterprises, considered here as part of the informal sector, in Thailand. The survey covered a large sample of enterprises (more than 500) in Bangkok and ten other provinces. Three sectors were studied: restaurant stalls, garment manufacturing, metal goods manufacturing. In fact, these are activities in which there are the greatest number of "manufacturing" enterprises in Thailand's urban informal sector. Their study permits a comparison of the behaviour of enterprises active in different markets.
The study shows that small enterprises in Thailand are well integrated in the economic development process, especially through subcontracting, and their growth is not particularly hindered by institutional constraints. Moreover, even though small entrepreneurs complain about the attitude of official inspectors, they often accepted the reasons for regulations, for they served to ...
This study investigates the relative importance of factors shaping banking and corporate landscapes in Thailand after 1997 through an empirical analysis of micro-data of Thai banks and firms. The results of the analysis of the bank data show that the deceleration of bank credit growth is mainly attributable to the fallout from the Asian crisis and postcrisis regulatory changes. While high non-performing loans (NPLs) and foreclosed assets on balance sheets hinder the resumption of lending, those banks that were well capitalised, larger or domestic could resume lending faster. The analysis also showed that big, domestic, well-capitalised banks with higher NPLs are more prone to diversify into securities investments. The analysis of the firm sample indicates that Thai firms have diversified their sources of financing over the period of 1997-2000, which is reflected in the rise of the share of debt securities and trade financing. As a conclusion from the above analyses, the ...
The 1997 Asian fi nancial crisis had severe consequences in Thailand where the currency lost half of its value. Although the economy rebounded with GDP growth of 6.9 per cent in 2003, the SARS crisis contributed to continuing uncertainty. However, with GDP per capita of PPP$ 6 740, Thailand is one of the wealthiest WEI countries.
Thailand has a sophisticated budget formulation process which has delivered solid fiscal results over time. This article discusses aspects of the budget process, including strategic performance budgeting, central development planning, the steps in the budget preparation timetable, and the roles of the spending ministries, the Bureau of the Budget and the Central Fund.
In the aftermath of the 1997 crisis Thailand has undergone changes in insolvency law, risk management (especially with respect to changes in the Bank of Thailand monetary regime), conduct of monetary policy, internal reorganisation, and risk management of financial institutions. Commercial and central bank regulators gradually learned from the crisis and responded by changing financial practices, consolidating business and introducing a new institutional infrastructure that is already in place and will be enforced in the coming years.
The objective of this paper is to explain how Thailand, after being hit by the economic crisis in 1997, reformed the bankruptcy system in order to deal with the subsequent growth of non-performing loans. This paper shows how the changes were made and the reasons behind the changes. It is now possible to see if they were beneficial and, most important, if they contributed to an appropriate and sustainable bankruptcy system. The paper also identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the system and suggests ways forward both for Thailand and other countries in the region. Finally, it illustrates the ongoing process of change in Thailand.
2005: Provident Fund (Amendment) Act; provides members with options to accept accrued benefits in the form of a lump sum or instalments, portability from the Government Pension Fund to a provident fund and establishes a master fund to facilitate the concept of employee’s choice
The Thai economy recovered from the Asian economic crisis in 1997 with strong economic growth that averaged 5% in 2000-06. Poverty, which increased during the turmoil, is now lower than the pre-crisis level. Unemployment is around 1.5%, which is considered a little lower than the natural rate of unemployment. Economic stability is also strong, as demonstrated by the current account surplus, high foreign reserves, decreasing public debt, and non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector. However, since 2005, the country has experienced political uncertainty, which led to a military intervention on the 19 September 2006. The interim government subsequently announced that a new election would be held towards the end of 2007.
In Thailand, the Consumer Protection Act of 1979 provides the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) with responsibility for promoting and encouraging the education of consumers on matters pertaining to the safety and potential dangers of goods and services and for providing educational information to consumers to promote efficient utilisation of natural resources. The OCPB has a rural network in order to reach rural areas. It appointed a provincial sub-committee in every province, with the governor serving as chairperson, which has the power and the duty to provide educational information to the public.
World trade will recover and imbalances remain lower than before appears in OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2009 Issue 1.
Several factors may have contributed to over-fishing, notably increasing human population, increased pressure from Thai trawlers who lost access to foreign fishing grounds after neighbouring countries declared EEZs, developments in processing techniques for turning low-priced demersal fish into human food, increasing numbers of animal feed plants that utilise trash fish, and trash fish itself. Trash fish is currently around 60% of the total trawl catch. Between 18% and 32% of trash fish are juveniles of commercially important fish species.