Thailand’s economic prospects continued to get brighter as the first quarter of 2010 came to a close and the data revealed healthy growth in production and improved consumer confidence. In a statement released by the … Thailand Business News

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Thailand’s economic prospects for 2010

Thailand’s open and tightly integrated into global trade economy experienced a V-shape contraction and recovery from late 2008 through late 2009
Policies that could contribute to reducing Thailand’s dependence on foreign demand include a phased liberalization of the services sector, boosting transport infrastructure, a reform of educational curricula and improved access and quality of higher education to boost skills of the labor force, better integration of universities, firms and government, and improved social safety nets

Thailand’s equity market bounced back strongly from the global crisis in 2009, with a total shareholder return (TSR) of 91% for the year 2009 against a 36% decline the year before. Ultra-lax monetary policies and massive public spending across the globe helped spur a quick turnaround from the worst global downturn since the Great Depression.
‘‘Institutional investors want to have the ability to get in or out of a stock without significantly influencing the share price.

Apart from the economic damage made to the business sector, the ongoing rally in Thailand’s capital has also posed threats to the tourism sector. Thailand Business News

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More hotels, restaurants are closing in Thailand’s central business district

Real GDP fell 6.3 percent between the third quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, as global demand slumped, before rebounding 6.9 percent through the end of 2009. The rebound was due to a recovery in global demand, an end to inventory liquidation and a pickup in private consumption as confidence returned.
Overall, domestic demand should provide a positive but limited contribution to growth: vulnerable households lost ground in 2009 and risks are substantial in 2010, as falling agricultural output due to the current drought may offset opportunities from the improved overall economic environment. Household consumption levels, which are highly correlated with the poverty rate, contracted in 2009 despite the rebound in the last quarter of the year, suggesting a likely increase in the poverty rate compared to 2008, especially when compounded by the loss in purchasing power from the food and fuel crisis of 2008. The outlook for 2010 is uncertain : average wages are likely to increase, thanks to the reallocation of labor from agriculture to manufacturing. Although labor markets appear very tight, with unemployment below 1 %, the data do not account for the large number of workers who moved to lower-productivity jobs in agriculture and informal services due to the crisis. Many of these workers are now returning to manufacturing, which offers higher wages than agriculture.

Alexander Wood, a founding partner of AWR Lloyd, believes the global crisis has acted as a catalyst for a fundamental, structural change in the global capital markets. The real new players in the markets are the sovereign wealth funds.
So small free floats and poor disclosure tend to create a vicious cycle,’’ Mr Wood said.

After speaking to hotel executives about Phuket, it is evident that for the moment the nation’s capital remains an isolated epicentre of both metrics and opinion. It is a pity that the travel advisories that have been put out do not clearly state that Bangkok is the only affected area Thailand Business News

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Phuket tourism holding up despite Bangkok clashes

For 2009 as a whole, nonetheless, real GDP fell 2 In addition, there are indications that construction investment, long subdued, may be picking up (credit has been increasing and the number of construction permits jumped in December)