The Thai Economy Is In Crisis

[highdiver]

Last Update : 11 Jun 2007 15:35:06

Last Change Value

(M.Baht)

SET Index 754.00 +2.00 11,745.41

SET100 Index 1,160.09 +3.52 8,884.13

SET50 Index 534.35 +2.19 6,847.89

things are just getting better all the time. to bad for those that had dark glases in the morning and hurried to sell.

or as we here in samui Somnamna

[bingobongo]

more reality......other than farming, confidence is down almost everwhere else

SME confidence index drops in April

BANGKOK, June 11 (TNA) – Thailand's small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) confidence index in the trade, wholesale and retail, and service sectors dropped in April due to a decline in total sales and profits, according to the SME Promotion Office.

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=29860

[bingobongo]

hello highdiver and the "defenders of the realm", cant runaway from reality forever.......

Confronting the Military in Thailand

While the bulk of the protesters came from within Thaksin's followers, they also included a wide range of other interest groups, a worrisome sign for a government already under scrutiny from overseas investors and businessmen worried about the kingdom's stability.

"The anti-junta coalition has gathered critical mass," warns Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "This is a pent-up situation, and it's going to get worse."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8...1631407,00.html

[Mid]

Ice cream sales melt despite heat

Tuesday June 12, 2007

Despite very hot weather, ice-cream demand in the first four months of this year grew by only 3.6%, sharply down from 20% growth in the same period last year.

[cclub75]

Despite very hot weather, ice-cream demand in the first four months of this year grew by only 3.6%, sharply down from 20% growth in the same period last year.

Could it be possible that thai people feel insecure about their future, because they are eating less ice cream ?

Nah... With the new constitution, and the next general elections, they will change into a bunch of happy folks, running naked under the sun in a flowers park, and buying condos and cars every day. I tell you, we are saved.

Thai consumers continue as the world's top saver

Thai consumer confidence fell sharply by fifteen points from 107 to 92 over the last six months, according to a survey by the Nielsen Company.

Thai consumers were pessimistic over job local prospects and nearly half of them didn't seem confident about the state of their finances for the year ahead, resulting in them being ranked first in the world in terms of "people planning to save any left over cash after paying for essential living expenses" according to the twiceyearly Global Consumer Confidence Study issued by The Nielsen Company.

The survey came amid reported drops in sales of consumer goods and consumer electrical appliances. Saha Group, Thailand's largest consumer goods manufacturer, also expects a 5 per cent contraction in its annual sale revenue this year - the first negative growth in its 60-year history.

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...newsid=30036656

[Mid]

"people planning to save any left over cash after paying for essential living expenses"

doubt you'd get any argument from the coal-face .

[soundman]

Ice cream sales melt despite heat

Tuesday June 12, 2007

Despite very hot weather, ice-cream demand in the first four months of this year grew by only 3.6%, sharply down from 20% growth in the same period last year.

GDP

Inflation

Balance of payments

Ice Cream Barometer

Soundman.

[Mid]

Ice Cream Barometer

gotta agree ,

but then have you got access to any actual figures ,

our freezer went back to Nestle .......................

[Mid]

Thai shares close 1.42 per cent lower

June 12, 2007 : Last updated 05:52 pm (Thai local time)

Thai share prices closed 1.42 per cent lower Tuesday amid worries that the junta's decision to freeze ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's assets could anger his supporters and lead to bigger protests, dealers said.

Agence France-Presse

trust you locked in those gains hd .................

[soundman]

Ice Cream Barometer

gotta agree ,

but then have you got access to any actual figures ,

our freezer went back to Nestle .......................

No, I've got no figures.

Just sounded funny...

Cheers,

Soundman.

[Mid]

opps ............

Total Access IPO falls a little short

(Agencies) - Total Access Communication Pcl, Thailand's second largest mobile phone operator, has more than 18 per cent of its initial public offering shares left after the first day of its IPO, the company's top executive said Tuesday.

The two-day public subscription, which ends Wednesday, comes amid some nervousness in the Thai stock market after the Assets Examination Committee, an anti-corruption body, Monday froze the assets of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife.

impeccable timing .......................

[highdiver]

Thai shares close 1.42 per cent lower

June 12, 2007 : Last updated 05:52 pm (Thai local time)

Thai share prices closed 1.42 per cent lower Tuesday amid worries that the junta's decision to freeze ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's assets could anger his supporters and lead to bigger protests, dealers said.

Agence France-Presse

trust you locked in those gains hd .................

i am so over whelmed by your intrest in my finanace but since you asked. i did hold to my stocks and the main one- Live made over 25% just today. while you were buisy posting on TV i actually made more money.

please keep your posts coming as the dimmer you see the better things get for me.

[highdiver]

International arrivals up

BANGKOK: -- International visitor arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the four months of the year totalled 3,413,197, an increase of 2.61 per cent year on year.

This includes only those who arrived in Bangkok as a first point of entry and not those who flew directly to other points in Thailand or who entered the country at border checkpoints. About 70 per cent of visitors usually make Bangkok their first point of entry.

Arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport from major markets in the period included East Asia (1,525,989), Europe (1,114,770), the Americas (267,965), Oceania (161,097), South Asia (187,526), the Middle East (124,863) and Africa (30,987).

-- The Nation 2007-06-11

i just could not resist posting it. seesm the tourist are up as well

[bingobongo]

what is it like swimming against the current highdiver? exhausting i bet

the LARGEST thai agro company is investing less in LOS and more overseas....not a great endorsement of the LOS economy

CP Group boosts overseas investment

Thailand's largest agro business conglomerate, to curtail domestic investment, but instead to raise its investment in foreign countries, a senior CP executive said today

A number of foreign investors in Thailand also are concerned about the Thai political situation, and have opted to invest in Vietnam, Mr. Ajva said

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=29894

Edited June 12, 2007 by bingobongo

[Mid]

If Thailand's domestic political landscape continues to deteriorate, he said, this year's national economy growth could drop to only 3 per cent growth. However, if the situation is not too bad, national economic growth this year may still only grow 3.5 per cent and not reach the 4.5 per cent level as recently projected by many agencies.

3% .............

familiar number ....................

cite CP Group boosts overseas investment

[VegasVic]

International arrivals up

BANGKOK: -- International visitor arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the four months of the year totalled 3,413,197, an increase of 2.61 per cent year on year.

This includes only those who arrived in Bangkok as a first point of entry and not those who flew directly to other points in Thailand or who entered the country at border checkpoints. About 70 per cent of visitors usually make Bangkok their first point of entry.

Arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport from major markets in the period included East Asia (1,525,989), Europe (1,114,770), the Americas (267,965), Oceania (161,097), South Asia (187,526), the Middle East (124,863) and Africa (30,987).

-- The Nation 2007-06-11

i just could not resist posting it. seesm the tourist are up as well

Yes but they are spending less than in previous years. You don't have to wait for the dismal $ figures to be published, just ask the taxi drivers, the merchants that cater to tourists, the busineses in proximity to hotels and guesthouses, and the tour and treking operators. If you look at all of the most popular tourist areas(with the possible exception of Phuket) in Thailand you will find that tourist dollars are down, in some areas they are down substantially. By all means keep putting the positive spin on the situation though. Who knows, perhaps there will be a new, fair and well thought Thai constitution by the end of summer, and following that there may be free and fair elections, and when the Chiese stock market bubble crashes perhaps Thailand will be immune from the fallout. Now get down to Suvarnabhumi and start passing out the flowers, lollipops and rose colored glasses to all of those tourists getting off of the planes, in the hopes that they will see the situation just like you do!

[highdiver]

International arrivals up

BANGKOK: -- International visitor arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the four months of the year totalled 3,413,197, an increase of 2.61 per cent year on year.

This includes only those who arrived in Bangkok as a first point of entry and not those who flew directly to other points in Thailand or who entered the country at border checkpoints. About 70 per cent of visitors usually make Bangkok their first point of entry.

Arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport from major markets in the period included East Asia (1,525,989), Europe (1,114,770), the Americas (267,965), Oceania (161,097), South Asia (187,526), the Middle East (124,863) and Africa (30,987).

-- The Nation 2007-06-11

i just could not resist posting it. seesm the tourist are up as well

Yes but they are spending less than in previous years. You don't have to wait for the dismal $ figures to be published, just ask the taxi drivers, the merchants that cater to tourists, the busineses in proximity to hotels and guesthouses, and the tour and treking operators. If you look at all of the most popular tourist areas(with the possible exception of Phuket) in Thailand you will find that tourist dollars are down, in some areas they are down substantially. By all means keep putting the positive spin on the situation though. Who knows, perhaps there will be a new, fair and well thought Thai constitution by the end of summer, and following that there may be free and fair elections, and when the Chiese stock market bubble crashes perhaps Thailand will be immune from the fallout. Now get down to Suvarnabhumi and start passing out the flowers, lollipops and rose colored glasses to all of those tourists getting off of the planes, in the hopes that they will see the situation just like you do!

when you see dark then all you see is drakness...

every year for the past 10 years in the months of May and June the same same low season.

every year the same same complaining about no tourist.

every year in august and high season evey one forgets the low season untill next year.

every year in thai visa forun the same same dark dooms day predictions

but why argue with the facts of more tourist then last year when you can put on your dark glasses and tell everyone how bad the situastion is.

why look to your own business and check how well or not you are doing when you can point the finger at the goverment??

its so easy to point the finger and blame someone for your unhapiness.

[highdiver]

what is it like swimming against the current highdiver? exhausting i bet

the LARGEST thai agro company is investing less in LOS and more overseas....not a great endorsement of the LOS economy

CP Group boosts overseas investment

Thailand's largest agro business conglomerate, to curtail domestic investment, but instead to raise its investment in foreign countries, a senior CP executive said today

A number of foreign investors in Thailand also are concerned about the Thai political situation, and have opted to invest in Vietnam, Mr. Ajva said

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=29894

Bingo.... it must be very hard living in the darkness, although you have some other friends with you. it must be realy nice and cosy there.

it so easy to blame someone else for you own unhapiness. it so easy to whine and critisize.

its so nice of you to scan the net and spoon feed us every item that reflects that the future is gloom.

I am reay sorry that you and your pals from the "end of the world, the future is gloom, dark glasses brigade" are not doing well and that your only way to express your unhapiness is by looking at life through dark shades.

so to make you happy again I will post for you what i posted a few days ago

Chansak Fuangfu, senior executive vice president of Bangkok Bank, said last week that several condo projects located near mass-transit routes, particularly the Skytrain and subway, had sold out in just a few days, though each property had hundreds or thousands of units. Even subscription forms are in high demand.

it must be realy hard for you to see that others are doing so well

on the country level low unemployment, high foreign reserves, and low foreign debt levels.

The National Economic and Social Development Board predicts that total exports this year will be USD 144.1 billion, up 12.4 percent year-on-year due to the high demand for Thai exports in major destinations in the first quarter. The current account has a surplus of USD 8.5 billion, 3.6 percent of GDP, up from the previous forecast of USD 3.1 billion.

smile thefuture is great.

[Mid]

PM shrugs off lobbyist's boycott call

(BangkokPost.com) - Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said Wednesday he is confident international communities understand the Thailand political situation and will continue investing in the country despite a call by a US-based law firm to support ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and "reconsider" their investment in Thailand.

"I'm confident that we can make them understand," Gen Surayud told reporters.

trust those international investors will make up for your national investors investing off shore due to the current domestic situation .

Edited June 13, 2007 by Mid

[highdiver]

PM shrugs off lobbyist's boycott call

(BangkokPost.com) - Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said Wednesday he is confident international communities understand the Thailand political situation and will continue investing in the country despite a call by a US-based law firm to support ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and "reconsider" their investment in Thailand.

"I'm confident that we can make them understand," Gen Surayud told reporters.

trust those international investors will make up for your national investors investing off shore due to the current domestic situation .

Foreign 5,747.35 3,715.42 2,031.92

you are so right. the international investors are not stoping from this morning. but i guess that was not your intention.

[Mid]

Last Change Value

(M.Baht)

SET Index 738.07 -5.35 6,384.54

SET100 Index 1,133.42 -8.99 4,501.93

SET50 Index 522.43 -4.07 3,602.99

mai Index 210.75 -0.54 45.58

thanxs for falangs , it's the only green showing ..............................

Edited June 13, 2007 by Mid

[Mid]

DT GROUP REVENUE

213% growth expected

Magnolia Quality Development alone to bring in Bt1 bn

here's a bone ................

[Mid]

Minister blames politics for economy

Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn on Tuesday conceded the country’s economic conditions had been affected by looming political tensions.

Speaking of the volatility of securities trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand upon rumours about the possible counter coup, he said the cabinet did not discuss the political development, particularly the counter coup, in its meeting.

He said investors must consider thoroughly whether the fluctuation of the stock market stemmed from internal or external factors.

The Post Publishing Public Co

[cclub75]

Minister blames politics for economy

“The political party dissolution and the freeze in assets of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife have not yet ended the political uncertainties. We need to wait and see the situation after the general election. Unless the problems turn violent, it will help restore confidence in the society,” he said.

At least, he doesn't serve us the fairy tale we heard last week after the TRT dissolution (event that was supposed to solve everything).

So now, it's back to "we'll see after the elections". Joy ! Come on guys, only 6 more month to wait.

The daily events prove that we are right : those who are betting on a short/medium term improvement are making a mistake. And those who don't see the link between the state of the economy and the political situation are also making a mistake.

[Mid]

Thai shares close 2.26 per cent lower

June 13, 2007 : Last updated 05:41 pm (Thai local time)

Thai share prices closed 2.26 per cent lower Wednesday amid worries over political tensions between the country's junta and deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, dealers said.

They said sentiment was also downbeat due to mostly sluggish regional markets, which followed a slump on Wall Street as traders remained jittery over the prospect of higher US interest rates.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index dropped 16.82 points, the biggest one-day selloff since early January, to 726.60, while the blue-chip SET 50 index lost 13.20 points to 513.30.

Agence France-Presse

[bingobongo]

lets see, slowing economy, fewer tourists, strong baht.......nothing to see here

Gems trade to fall 15%

The gems and jewellery market this year, including exports, is forecast to shrink about 15 per cent from US$5 billion (Bt173 billion) last year due to the slowing economy, fewer tourists and the stronger baht.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/06/14/business/business_30036785.php

[pyrolover2000]

not there yet, but with the US GDP coming in at a paltry 1.3% , its only a matter of time before Thailand takes it on the chin....

Four Asian nations hit by 1997-98 financial crisis face vulnerability

Thailand now faces greater risks due to a decline in the ratio of foreign reserves to short-term debt and an increase in short-term capital inflows.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/19/news/currency.php

I agree with you. but maybe not got the same reason.

Thailand is facing another financial crisis vulnerability because huge hedge funds and investment banks have taken position on the thai baht. As such Thailand is now at the mercy of those forign speculators that can decide to draw out and repeat the same crisis as in 97. Unfortunatly this is now a problem not only for thailand but for the whole world. the Huge fund mangers have only one consideration and that is to make more and more profits. they dont care if they can ruin a country or devestate an economy while doing so.

All the economical factors are in favour for thailand to continue growth but a bunch of greedy speculators can realy rock the boat.

there is no way to stop this as if you put limitations on short-term capital inflows the speculators are going to go to the govermants and complain about thailands monitary policy and thailand does not want tpo upset the americans or the europeans. so at the end of the day a few greedy managers are basicly running the world.

Highdiver, You hit the nail on the head! I have posted multiple times on this subject but most people here just don't get it. When the hedge funds decide to get out of their investments and change their baht back in to euros and U.S. dollars then the Thai baht will do an absolute backflip. People don't realize the size and scope of these funds to change capital markets overnight and ruin a small countries economy as well, and you are correct that absolute greed is the only thing that motivates these people. It is truely unconsionable how governments both in the U.S. and Europe have been bought off and make no attempt to have any regulation or oversight on these hedge fund criminals. A good example was the democratic debate in south carolina yesterday, the moderator asked john edwards and hillary clinton the same question about what they would do to institute some oversight on the hedge fund industry if elected and both candidates completely dodged the question and talked about something else. The next question in the debate was directed toward chris dodd (a senator from conneticut that the hegde fund industry has in its back pocket) and you could see senator dodd sweating bullets thinking that he might be getting the same question on the hegde fund industry, but sadly the moderator seeing that he was not going to get a straight answer about hedge funds from these candidiates, changed the line of questioning and you could see the immediate relief on chris dodds face. Just as Jesus overturned the carts of the moneychangers in the temple, we need someone in power with a strong loyal following to turn over the carts of the hedge funds and watch as the cockroaches scrurry, if something isn't done soon then I feel that the price to pay will be devestating.

if you have proof that this is actually happening, then, let us all see it. otherwise, all this conspiracy stuff is old stuff, and the only thing it does is make foreigners more anti-american.

on the other hand, since you seem to think this is true, perhaps you can tell us all what thailand can do to stop this so-called conspiracy being implemented by evil rich americans?

your conspiracy theories are making it so that win or lose, america will look like the one to blame.

jesus, can't someone in this world take the blame for something THEY did for once?

yeah. maybe I am naive about all the evil in this world. so, please enlighten me. but some more constructive thought would help instead of just all the accusations. thank you.

Nick, First of all there is no conspiracy theory going on here, hegde funds and arbitragers have been with us for a while now and their size, strength, and political clout has grown into something that would make the tabacco industry evious. Secondly, this is not a uniquely american phenomonon there are many european hedge funds manipulating the thai market as well as many other markets in asia and elseware. Last week on 60 minutes (or maybe it was 20-20) there was a segment on just this, and senator grassley who had the guts to put forward some rather tame hegde fund legislation on the senate floor was interviewed and said that within 10 minutes of introducing his bill on the senate floor he was contacted by multiple parties(both other senators and lobbyists) to kill the bill. In this same segment it was made clear that on multiple occasions senator dodd has killed similiar bills and then 60 minutes went on to say that dodd recieved over 5 million dollars from the hedge fund industry in his last campaign. These are the hard cold facts my friend, I only wish it was just a bad dream or some bogus conspiracy theory. By the way americans are not to blame but instead are victims of these hedge funds as well. Perhaps when the valuation on the baht does reverse dramatically and some journalist can lay out just how all this occured, then perhaps you will not be so naive the next time around.

ok. I am not disbelieving you. especially if 60 minutes brought the subject up.

...if some senators and some lobby groups tried to stop this hegde fund legislation, then, these people need to be identified before anybody can do anything. so, the big question is - can you identify who these senators and lobbyist are?

on the same token, since you say that there are american and european hedge funds who are causing all these evil deeds here in thailand, can you identify them so that ALL thais will know who they are?

to fight an evil, you must first know who you are fighting. right?

name the hedge funds.

being a small speck, I certainly cannot do much. but I am sure there are others with more "influence" who can.

expose the hedge funds.

Nick, You just don't get it do you? The United States Congress is so impetent and scared that they cannot pass legislation to regulate or at the very least lend some transparency to the hedge fund industry. In Eurpoe it is the same way, but at least the discussion seems to be "on the table" over there. These funds act with impunity and have absolutly no transparency so what do you think that you could possibly do? I tell you what if you check out the phone books for Darien conneticut, Boca Raton FL., northern N.J., Toronto Canada, Bermuda, the Bahanas, the cayman islands and Berlin you might have a good start as most of the power players in the hedge fund industry operate from these locals. Good luck my friend, perhaps you have the power to do what the U.S. congress obviously doesn't have the balls to attempt!

we only have your accusations. no proof. if you know personally ANY hedge funds who are causing these conspiracies as you claim they are doing, bring it out so that people can confront them.

as for the "other guy" who asked me how I "know" that there is a lot of anti-american sentiment here in thailand. you only have to read the newspapers here to get the general idea of what is going on. gee, you really don't need to go that far either. why, just read the replies from thais on thaivisa.

we are starting to get off-topic here. so, I will stop.

I agree with the above replies you got. and apart from you it seems that other members "dont get it"

Forex is the largest market in the world with a daily turn over of Trillions of dollars. not billions but trillions.

the largest players on this court are usualy central banks and heavy players in forex.

by the way the largest player by far is the US Federal Reserve. some would even go as far as saying that it is the Americans who by sheer ratio are actually controlling this market and do so to promote american interests.

The Hedge Funds and the private equiry funds have become in the last Few years very big players.

some of those funds are called by economists "dumb money" as the investors in those funds dont realy understand what it is the fund is investing in or where the mony is invested they just want to see profis at the end of the year.

Those large funds are making huge amounts of money. and it was published last week about the salaries that some of those hedge funds manages get they were in billions.

Edward S. Lampert made $1.02 billion, while his firm, ESL Investments, raked in a 69 percent return on investment.

Besides Lampert, others in the top 10 of hedge fund managers included James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, $670 million; Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, $550 million; Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, $450 million; David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, $420 million; George Soros of Soros Fund Management, $305 million (Soros was number one in 2003, with $750 million); Paul Tudor Jones II of Tudor Investment Corp., $300 million; Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, $240 million; Raymond Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, $225 million; and Israel Englander of Millennium Partners, $205 million.

and that just the americans.

do you undesratand that those guys with those salaries are controlling billions dollar funds and the only objective they have is to make more money and have a bigger return.

Hedge-fund assets globally broke through the $1 trillion mark in July, 2004, with funds invested in Asia approaching 6% of that total.

Dozens of these funds have set up shop in Asia in the past 24 months, hoping to find lucrative opportunities outside the crowded capital markets in Europe and the United States. So why are they investing in Asia and in Thailand??? because the growth rate is better and the lack of monitary controls enable them to do ehat they want.

Aggressive hedge fund managers normally take positions designed to profit from a market decline if one is expected, and perhaps no market "correction" has been as widely anticipated as the latest one in March. Fund managers in Asia were warning of an imminent slide in markets as far back as December. What is surprising about the latest expected drop was how few hedge fund managers appeared to have taken such positions.

Instead, they were trying to take advantage of the bull market for Asian stocks and bonds.

Short-selling, or betting that stocks will fall, is not allowed in some Asian equity markets, but determined short-sellers can use financial derivatives and options to achieve the same effect. When stocks started to move down, though, investors will jumped out en masse, making drops even steeper.

do you understand they are actually going to win a lot of money by crashing the stocks?? do you understand that they are world wide players that can afford to loose in one game if they win more on another? do you understand that The Thai economy is nothing for them and with a single decision they can destroy the country and create another crisis and that at the end of the day they make more moeny from doing it??

But today it is not just the hedge funds that act like hedge funds It is also the proprietary desks of banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Because the banks' traders and hedge fund managers are compensated on the short-term trading profits they make they are not interested any more in Long term investments . they are playing god to other countris so the bonus at the ned of the year will be bigger.

the crisis is coming soon unless the thai govermant and infact every other asian country will take steps to controll forign investement and capital controll. Meanwhile, a 167 percent increase in Vietnam's benchmark stock market index has sparked fears that Hanoi will impose capital controls to keep foreign speculative investments out. Thailand put controls on incoming portfolio capital in December, although it has been relaxing them steadily since then due to international pressure by.... yes you are right those with the big salaries above.

I closed my thai bank accounts the morning after the verdict on the TRT. Seeing the thai wealthy start moving their money off shore and, buying large sums of US dollars & British pounds was sign enough for me.

[Steely Dan]

My wife actually initiated my investigating how she could get her money offshore. It is not as easy as one might imagine for ordinary Thais as the banks seem to be extremely uncooperative. As a UK citizen I wonder if I can transfer money out myself or will we have to resort to taking wads of Baht to Singapore?

[Mid]

interesting ,

crisis , what crisis ?

has become ,

getting money off-shore ...................................

[palm]

on the country level low unemployment, high foreign reserves, and low foreign debt levels.

The National Economic and Social Development Board predicts that total exports this year will be USD 144.1 billion, up 12.4 percent year-on-year due to the high demand for Thai exports in major destinations in the first quarter. The current account has a surplus of USD 8.5 billion, 3.6 percent of GDP, up from the previous forecast of USD 3.1 billion.

smile thefuture is great.

Yes; exports are booming and growing overall. Not only as covered in the papers, but in the overcrowded Export Dept.

We can't find many more good staff for love or money (well maybe more money). Those pesky Thais are all employed; no matter how hard we look; we can't find anyone not employed or willing to change jobs for a reasonable salary. (15k up for garment staff).

Maybe the economic woes of 'the weak dollar pushing up cost of buying a beer in a girly bar' is what the others are referring to? After all it must be terrible seeing your spending power in Thailand go down the pan by being locked into dollar-based Bonds.

Every year the taxi drivers (the world over) moan like old women; this year is the same; and the same falangs will increase their whining as their personal circumstances continue to deteriorate.