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Economy of Thailand
Thailand is an emerging economy. After enjoying the world's highest growth
rate from 1985 to 1996 - averaging 9.4% annually - increased pressure on
Thailand's currency, the baht, in 1997, the year in which the economy
contracted by 1.9% led to a crisis that uncovered financial sector
weaknesses and forced the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh administration to float
the currency, however, Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was forced to
resign after his cabinet came under fire for its slow response to the
crisis. The Baht was pegged at 25 to the US dollar from 1978 to 1997,
however, the baht reached its lowest point of 56 to the US dollar in
January 1998 and the economy contracted by 10.8% that year. This collapse
prompted the Asian financial crisis.
Thailand's economy started to recover in 1999, expanding 4.2% and 4.4% in
2000, largely due to strong exports. Growth (2.2%) was dampened by the
softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent
years due to strong growth in Asia, a relatively weak baht encouraging
exports and increasing domestic spending as a result of several mega
projects and incentives of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, known as
Thaksinomics. Growth in 2002, 2003 and 2004 was 5-7% annually. Growth in
2005, 2006 and 2007 hovered around 4-5% Due both to the weakening of the
US dollar and an increasingly strong Thai currency, by March 2008, the
dollar was hovering around the 33 baht mark.
Thailand exports an increasing value of over $105 billion worth of goods
and services annually. Major exports include rice, textiles and footwear,
fishery products, rubber, jewelry, automobiles, computers and electrical
appliances. Thailand is the world’s no.1 exporter of rice, exporting more
than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually. Rice is the most important
crop in the country. Thailand has the highest percent of arable land,
27.25%, of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion. About 55% of the
available land area is used for rice production.
Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer
parts and automobiles, while tourism contributes about 5% to Thailand's
GDP.
Thailand uses the metric system but traditional units of measurement and
imperial measure (feet, inches) are still much in use, particularly for
agriculture and building materials. Years are numbered as B.E. (Buddhist
Era) in education, the civil service, government, and on contracts and
newspaper datelines; in banking, however, and increasingly in industry and
commerce, standard Western year (Christian or Common Era) counting
prevails.
resource : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand |