Thailand Economy – Thai Economy
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In 2006, Thailand’s Gross Domestic Product was $206.2 billions, the growth rate being of 6.2 annually. Thailand’s economy depends mostly on exports, which cover about 65% of the country’s DGP, with purchasing power parity at $ 627 billion. After Indonesia, Thailand is Southeast Asia’s second largest economy and fourth richest nation, after Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. The financial crisis that occurred in Asia in 1997-1998 also affected Thailand, whose recovery was made mostly through exports. Thai economy is sustained a lot by tourism.
The Bank of Thailand tries to implement some reforms. The government introduced the Financial Sector Reform Master Plan in 2004 in order to strengthen Thailand’s financial sector. Experts considered this reform program successful. There are currently fifteen Thai commercial banks, 3 commercial banks owned by the state, 5 specialized banks owned by the state and seventeen foreign banks.
Thailand’s most important industries are: textiles, garments, tourism, tobacco, tourism, agricultural processing, electric components, jewelry, cement, plastics, computer components and furniture. The industrial sector has risen in percentage from 1984. The agriculture sector is important, although its part in the total General Gross product had decreased in the past few years: in 1984, it was 17.6 and in 2004, the decline was at 9.9%.
Thailand agriculture produces corn, rice, soybeans, coconuts, maize, tobacco, tapioca, sugarcane and rubber. 20% of the land consists of mountains and heels, making cultivation impossible. But some areas can be transformed in order to allow cultivation. Thailand is a great exporter of shrimp and rice. The most important region for rice growing is around the Mae Nam river, where soils are moderately fertile and suitable for cultivation.
Mining is also present in Thailand, a country rich in natural gas, gypsum, tin, rubber, fluorite, lead, tungsten tantalum and lignite. Thailand has been mostly importing tin since 1985, when the tin mining industry started going down. The country also imports oil and gas. Industry brought 43.9% of the country’s GDP in 2007. The workforce used for this was only 14 percent of the population. Half of Thailand’s population works in the agricultural field, 37% work in services and about 20% are used in industry.
In October 2003, Thailand started a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with China. Thailand is part of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and of the AFTA (Asian Free Trade Area). Thailand imports vehicles, chemicals, fuels, steel and iron. It exports to the United States of America, Europe and Japan.
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Source by Vladimir Gonzalez
