With no real government, can Thailand escape recession?
BY ALAN RAYBOULD
BANGKOK

(Reuters) - Some bold assumptions about a rapid end to a six-month political crisis are all that stand between Thailand and its first real recession since the global financial crisis.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy is confronting weak exports, a year-long slump in industrial output and a drop in tourism, under a caretaker government with limited powers and a central bank wary of wasting ammunition on a political problem.

Protesters trying to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra disrupted an election in February and will probably do the same again. She could be removed by the courts next month anyway, leaving a power vacuum and possibly sparking violence.

Undaunted, the Finance Ministry sees an improvement in the economy after what it says will be a contraction of less than 1 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months. On Tuesday it stuck to its forecast of 2.6 percent growth in 2014. [read more...]

Full story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-thailand-protest-economy-idUSBREA3T08E20140430

-- REUTERS 2014-05-01

It's already in recession if you ask me, clear as day to see!

With no real government, can Thailand escape recession?

Hell, no, the ruling party will do any dirty trick by any means to stay in power and manipulate the "Election-Collection" mass results as much as they please, while keeping the witnesses in lethal deadly silence...

Got it?

Thailand hasn't had a real government in a long time, so what's the difference this time ?

With Thaksin looting the country in his (official) reign, and Yingkuck pissing billions away through bad populist policies and closed eyes when it comes to corruption, maybe Thailand would be economically better off without any government.

With Thaksin looting the country in his (official) reign, and Yingkuck pissing billions away through bad populist policies and closed eyes when it comes to corruption, maybe Thailand would be economically better off without any government.

Although I agree with your statements, do you think that Thailand was not corrupt before Thaksin's involvement. I think it is just a reflection of a society for which greed and face are the most important things

With Thaksin looting the country in his (official) reign, and Yingkuck pissing billions away through bad populist policies and closed eyes when it comes to corruption, maybe Thailand would be economically better off without any government.

cant say ive noticed any difference..bar the farmers government employees still being paid roads repaired business as normal...i shall phone uncle suphep later and tell him go home mate,thais dont need any mp,s just the civil srevice which really runs a country..

Thailand has no capable leaders. The premise of it economy was never strong for the long term. Cheap labor, shrimp, rice, cheap and readily available sex, and some other normal tourism for temples and elephants. The police force is nothing more than a toll booth. A black economy based on human trafficking, counterfeit goods, pirated software, music, and movies as well as all sorts of plundered goods and resources from Thailand's own land. It's time for Thailand to face the piper.

With Thaksin looting the country in his (official) reign, and Yingkuck pissing billions away through bad populist policies and closed eyes when it comes to corruption, maybe Thailand would be economically better off without any government.

Although I agree with your statements, do you think that Thailand was not corrupt before Thaksin's involvement. I think it is just a reflection of a society for which greed and face are the most important things

Of course it would be crazy to think or state that Thailand was not corrupt or governments incompetent before 2001. The Shinawatras certainly didn't invent these situations in Thailand, but I have to think that maybe it wasn't quite as bad with past governments in modern times.

If things don't change they will remain the same , Thailand is about twelve months away from a recession according to the latest financial gossip, so they have that time to crawl there way back, lead lag time will put who ever is in power a little bit under domestic pressure to lower the price of noodles in the second quarter of 2015 and lime in last quarter 1015, all important factors in keeping the economy rolling. Info supplied by PTP LTD, no liability.

Thailand was receiving warnings from the world's financial institutions well before the puppet PM folded the house. The increasing incompetence, lawlessness, patronage and corruption that put them in the position for those warnings, the ignorance in ignoring those warnings and carrying on with their total incompetence then it was never a case of a lack of government but a matter of Thaksin and his cronies that has put Thailand where it currently is...and deservedly so.

It's already in recession if you ask me, clear as day to see!

I'm sure I read about a week ago on TV that Thailand was slipping into recession.

jb1

i think with no real goverment it's more likely to escape recession

lets face it when any country has a recession it's nearly always the goverments fault

With...or without...a gov't...recession is coming...to most countries in the world...including Thailand...

The one and only who could bring Thailand out of this started economy crisis is Mr. T.S. himself.

He made it after the horrible 1997 finance bank collapse and economy crisis incl. IWF (this was a master-piece), so maybe he could make it once again.

Any other?

no.......impossible

Diogenes would come up empty handed here.

Have an idea get Tat to come up with a new slant on underwater elephant marrige at shipwreck,with lotus flower and free fertility treatment followed by smile thai massage with free gallon of Vodka,and a lotto were you have the chance to be "thai priminster for a day",then can drive ten wheel truck wrong way down highway killing as many peasants as you can,and get only 48 hours community service,then you get to throw thousands of plastic bags into the wind and see where they land,you think i should apply?

I have sent these ideas to Tat,they say they are interested,but have to work out how many billion tourists it could bring in ,i am waiting on tenterhooks as i post.

if it slips much further it'll be a depression:)

Governments don't create growth. There was plenty of economic growth in the world before governments existed. Governments usually hinder growth.

With the decisions of the "caretaker" government (still trying to figure out exactly what power this does and doesn't give them, if someone could clearly define it?) still in place, it was their decisions which led to the current financial and social situation of the country. Idiotic ideas such as the rice pledging scheme, as well as complete ignorance of external factors and an ongoing ignorance of the need to become more competitive as ASEAN approaches have ensured that things are a mess.

In my opinion, having no government is certainly better than having the previous government in power "spendin' up large" like they were still on some shopping spree in a Burberry store in London.

If they dont remove protectionism, patronage, and unfair markets , what difference is it really going to make if Thailand has a recession.

Every market has only 2 or 3 players. So they make a little less profit. So what.

Wait until the new human trafficking report is released. The Chris Smith committee report will state that Thailand's south is a massive racketeered and controlled human trafficking network and market with dark villages used as enclaves to round up humans used for labor and sex trafficking. The coming downgrade of Thailand on human trafficking will do wonders for the economy. Notwithstanding all the shootings, killings, and violence in the Thai south as well as Bangkok more and more.

Thailand will be on par with the USA who has not had a functional government in several years

i just wonder, in recession, do they still continue the rice scam ?