Thai economy

Until World War II, Thailand was a fairly economically backward country; rice was the main export product. The industrialization of Thailand began in the 1950s, mainly due to US financial assistance (in exchange for supporting American military operations in Asia). The period from 1985 to 1996 was marked by rapid growth in GDP (about 10% per year) and exports (about 15% per year), direct foreign investments, primarily Japanese ones, played an important role in this ^[2] . But at the same time, the financial problems of the Thai government grew, primarily the current account deficit (by 1996 reaching -7.887% of GDP, $ 14.351 billion), as well as a lack of capital. As a result, external debt grew, reaching $ 109.276 billion by 1997. The emerging economic bubble burst in 1997, becoming the main cause of the Asian economic crisis . The national currency was devalued from 25 baht per dollar to 56 baht, in 1997 GDP fell by 1.4%, in 1998 - by 10.5%. Since 1999, economic growth has resumed, but real GDP reached the level of 1996 only in 2006 ^[3] . Thailand received financial assistance (in the form of loans totaling $ 17.2 billion) from the International Monetary Fund and other organizations ^[4] . Economic recovery was slowed by political instability and the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004, doubts about the effectiveness of laws that severely cut budget spending, the adoption of which was a condition for the provision of financial assistance. The global financial crisis , which began in 2007, affected the Thai economy, and in 2009 the country's GDP fell by 2.3% ^[5] .

Advances in agricultural development in the 1960s contributed to Thailand's transition to an industrial economy, although up to the 1980s, up to 70% of the country's labor force was employed in agriculture; even in 2008, in rural areas (mainly in the north of the country), farm work provided half of the population’s employment ^[6] . Rice is the most important crop in the country, and Thailand has long been the largest exporter of rice in the world, only recently losing ground to India and Vietnam. From other agricultural products in Thailand, it is worth highlighting tapioca , rubber , corn , sugarcane , coconuts , soy , palm oil ^{[1] [7]} .

Forests occupy about 37% of Thailand. In 1985, a quarter of the country's territory was reserved for legally protected forests, and 15% for logging. From 1992 to 2001, the volume of export of lumber increased from 50 thousand to 2 million cubic meters per year. Agricultural land occupies 41.2% of the area of ​​Thailand, including arable land occupies 30.8%, permanent crops are grown on 8.8% of the territory, pastures occupy 1.6%. Irrigation is carried out on 64 thousand km².

Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, primarily shrimp . According to the Thai Frozen Food Association, total fish exports in 2014 amounted to about $ 3 billion. More than 300,000 people are employed in Thailand's fishing industry.

The share of industry in GDP is 36.2%, it employs 16.7% of the working age population, industrial production growth in 2017 amounted to 1.6% ^[1] .

Mining

The share of this industry in the total GDP is small (approximately 1.6%), but it provides a significant portion of the country's export earnings. Thailand is one of the largest suppliers of tin and tungsten to the world market, and ranks second after Canada for the export of gypsum . Natural gas is being produced in the Gulf of Thailand .

Machining

As in all the "new industrial countries" to which Thailand belongs, the most rapid development of the manufacturing industry took place in the 1990s. However, [[Asian financial crisis | 1997 Asian financial crisis]] caused a significant decline in production. Today, the country has developed electronics, car assembly, jewelry and petrochemical industry. Textile and food industries are also developed.

Electronics

Electrical appliance manufacturing is Thailand's largest export sector, accounting for about 15% of total exports. In 2014, Thailand's exports of electronic equipment and devices amounted to about $ 55 billion. In 2015, about 780 thousand employees were employed in the electrical appliance manufacturing sector, which is 12.2% of the total employment of workers in all sectors of industry in Thailand.

Thailand is the world's second largest producer of hard disk drives ( HDD ) after China, with Western Digital and Seagate Technology among the largest manufacturers in the world ^[8] . But there are certain problems in the high-tech product sector. In January 2015, the country's manufacturing index fell for the 22nd consecutive month, and the production of goods such as televisions and radios fell by 38%. Producers move to countries where labor is cheaper than in Thailand. In April 2015, production was discontinued at the LG Electronics factory in Rayong Province. Production moves to Vietnam, where labor costs per day are $ 6.35 versus $ 9.14 in Thailand.

Thailand is an ASEAN leader in automobile manufacturing and sales. In 2015, about 417,000 workers were employed in this sector, which is 6.5% of total employment in all manufacturing sectors and approximately 10% of the country's GDP. In 2014, Thailand exported $ 25.8 billion worth of automotive products.

There are 19 registered airlines in Thailand, their total fleet consists of 276 aircraft, and in 2015 they transported more than 54 million passengers. The country has 101 airports, of which 63 are paved, 8 have an airstrip more than 3 km long ^[1] .

The total length of Thai railways is 4127 km, almost all of them are narrow gauge (1000 mm), standard gauge (1435 mm) is only 84 km long. The condition of the railway track on the stages is good, sufficient for movement at a speed of 100 km / h. Passenger traffic is provided by trains with cars of 3 classes: 1st class with air conditioning, 2nd class without air conditioning and 3rd class seated cars with free travel for Thais. Freight trains are mainly engaged in the transport of goods in containers. The length of roads is 180 thousand km, of which 450 km are highways (for 2006) ^[1] .

The total length of navigable sections of rivers is about 4 thousand km. The country's fleet consists of 781 vessels with a displacement of more than 1,000 gross register tons , of which 240 are tankers, 25 dry cargo vessels, 23 container ships, 94 other cargo ships. The largest ports with container terminals are Laem Chabang (7.2 million TEU ) and Bangkok (1.5 million TEU); there is also a terminal for receiving liquefied gas in Map Ta Phut ^[1] .

In 2015, electricity production amounted to 167.9 billion kWh (24th place in the world), and its consumption - 168.3 billion kWh (23rd place in the world). Electricity imports exceed exports - 14.41 billion kWh compared to 2.267 billion kWh. The total nominal generating capacity of Thailand's power plants is 40.97 million kW (24th place in the world), of which 76.7% are thermal power plants (mainly natural gas), 8.9% are hydropower plants and 14.2% alternative renewable sources ^[1] .

Thailand partially covers the demand for oil with its own production, which in 2016 amounted to 257.5 thousand barrels per day (33rd place in the world), but oil imports far exceed exports - 830.5 thousand against 12.2 thousand barrels per day ( according to the data for 2014). In 2017, Thailand was 52nd in the world in terms of proven oil reserves (396.4 million barrels), and in 43rd place in natural gas (206.8 billion cubic meters). Of the 53 billion cubic meters of gas consumed per year, 40 billion cubic meters comes from own production in the Platong offshore field located at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand , the rest is imported from Qatar , which supplies liquefied natural gas to the Map Ta Phut LNG LNG terminal ^{[1] [9]} .

Fixed-line telephony is poorly developed, in the country in 2017 there were 2.91 million subscribers, that is, 4 telephone lines per 100 people (49th place in the world); services are provided by both the state telephone company and private operators. In terms of the number of mobile subscribers, Thailand ranks 11th in the world - 121.53 million, which is 1.78 times the population. Thailand is connected to the main submarine cable systems and also has ground stations for two Intelsat satellites (Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean). In the country, more than 32 million people have access to the Internet (2016, 21st place in the world), of which more than 8 million have broadband connections (18th place in the world) ^[1] .

In his speech on national television on January 23, 2015 in the program “Returning Happiness to the People,” Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha spoke about the government’s policy of creating special economic zones. In his appeal, it was said that politics will contribute to the establishment of ties and regional economic development on a sustainable basis. Currently, there are 10 special economic zones in Thailand, the volume of trade and investment of which is estimated at almost 800 billion baht per year.

In 2014, the government launched a pilot project to create six special economic zones in five provinces: So , Mukdahan , Sa Kaeo, Songkhla and Trat . In the second phase, which is expected to begin in 2016, seven special economic zones will be created in another five provinces: Chiang Rai , Kanchanaburi , Nong Khai , Nakhon Phanom and Narathiwat .

In early 2015, the government approved a plan for the development of infrastructure in special economic zones. In 2015, the plan includes 45 projects with a budget of 2.6 billion baht. Another 79 projects worth 7.9 billion baht will be implemented in 2016. Based on a combination of government revenue, bond placement, and other financing, Prajut plans to spend $ 83 billion over seven years on new railways, roads, and customs posts. The idea is to connect about 2.4 billion consumers in China and India with the newest economic group in Asia, the ASEAN Economic Community, of which Thailand is a member ^[10] .

In the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2018, among the 2000 largest public companies in the world 16 were Thai: PTT PCL (156), Siam Commercial Bank (623), Siam Cement (654), Kasikornbank (710), PTT Global Chemical (819), Bangkok Bank (829), CP All (918), Krung Thai Bank (1078), Thai Beverage (1183), Airports of Thailand (1237), Advanced Info Service (1243), Charoen Pokphand Foods (1261), Indorama Ventures (1289) , Thai Oil (1451), Thanachart Capital (1957), Electricity Generating (1991) ^[11] . The Charoen Pokphand conglomerate is not included in this list because it is a private company, but includes the trading company CP All and the food company Charoen Pokphand Foods; the head of the conglomerate Dhanin Chearavanont is considered the richest man in Thailand ^[12] .

“Thailand’s shadow economy is one of the highest in the world,” said Friedrich Schneider, economist at Johannes Kepler University of Austria in Linz, author of Hiding in the Shadow: Growing the Underground Economy. According to his estimates, in 2014, Thailand's shadow economy accounted for 40.9% of real GDP, including gambling and firearms, but mostly excluding drugs. Schneider defines the “shadow economy” as including all the legal market production of goods and services that are intentionally hidden from state bodies for the following reasons:

• to avoid paying income tax, VAT or other taxes
• to avoid paying social security contributions
• to avoid having to comply with certain legal labor market standards, such as minimum wages, maximum hours of work, or safety standards
• to avoid following certain administrative procedures, such as filling out statistics, questionnaires or other administrative forms.

The shadow economy also includes usury. There are an estimated 200,000 “unofficial lenders” in the country, many of whom charge exorbitant interest rates, often creating an insurmountable burden for low-income borrowers.

A significant problem in Thailand is the use of slave labor, especially in the fishing industry. A relatively high standard of living in Thailand attracts migrants from Myanmar , Laos , China , Vietnam , Uzbekistan and India , and often they are forced or deceived to work for free in fishing boats, factories or as domestic workers, and are also transported to Europe or Northern America (along with the Thais). The government’s attempts to solve this problem are not very successful. Things are much better in the fight against drug production, once large poppy crops were almost completely destroyed, but Thailand remains a transit point for smuggling heroin from Myanmar and Laos and a drug-laundering center. Since the 1990s, Thailand has become a major consumer of methamphetamine ^[1] .

The biggest problem (as in other still relatively poor countries in Europe and Asia: Russia, Ukraine, China, Belarus, etc.) is the growing shortage of able-bodied labor every year, and the increase in the number of pensioners due to the low birth rate and high emigration of the population to other, richer, countries of the world. A particularly difficult situation is with the growing demographic crisis in many developing countries in Europe and Asia: Thailand, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, China, etc. В этих стран обычный демографический кризис свойственный развитым странам усугубляться, часто ещё большим уменьшением официально работающей доли трудоспособного населения, в связи с обширной неформальной, теневой экономикой, ещё более низкой рождаемостью, ещё большей безработицей, ещё большем ростом пенсионеров в связи с меньшими здоровыми годами активной трудоспособной жизни, что вкупе с активной эмиграции молодого, экономически активного и самого трудоспособного населения в более богатые страны мира, приводит к замедлению экономи еского роста стран, и как следствия к замедлению роста зарплат и уровня жизни в странах, что в свою очередь замедляет сближение уровня жизни в развивающихся странах к уровню жизни развитых. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34]} Богатые развитые страны Европы и Азии, часто решают проблему демографического кризиса, просто увеличивая квоты на ввоз большего числа иностранной рабочей силу, что в свою очередь бедные, экономические не привлекательный, как для квалифицированной, так и не квалифицированной иностранной рабочей силы, развивающиеся страны себе позволить не могут. Как пример, экономика Таиланда может столкнуться с широко обсуждаемой проблемой, Таиланд может постареть быстрее, чём её население разбогатеет, что может привести к замедлению роста уровня жизни в Таиланде и сближения её по зарплатам с другими развитыми и богатыми экономками Азии и Европы: Японией, Республикой Корея, Китайской Республикой, Швейцарией, Германией, Францией, Норвегией, Словенией и т.д. В худшем случае это может привести к экономическому застою, подобному японскому, наблюдаемому в Японии уже два десятилетия. Но с учётом, что Япония является экономически развитой, богатой страной, с высокими зарплатами, а Таиланд лишь развивающейся.

На 2017 год минимальный размер оплаты труда составил 305 бат в день, что составляет 9.02 доллара США в день. По состоянию на 2019 год минимальный размер оплаты труда составил 325 бат в день, что составляет 10.19 доллара США в день. ^{[35] [36] [37] [38] [39]}

• Фондовая биржа Таиланда
• Тайский бат
• Банк Таиланда
• Культорн Кирби
• Туризм в Таиланде
• Энергетика Таиланда

• The dynamics of natural gas consumption in Thailand
• Import and Export from Thailand (Services)