So far, political stability has not salvaged the Thai economy

[spidermike007]

Not to sound particularly negative, but what is gonna happen in Thailand when the new ASEAN charter comes into effect and there is more competition amongst ASEAN nations? Will they break aspects of the charter like they did with the 6th charter, when Singha lobbied that the free flow of beer across borders could hurt them and the economy? One wonders how competitive Thailand might be at that point. One wonders what the impact of it's more competitive neighbors might have on a more open ASEAN community. It seems Thailand has been doing less than its neighbors when it comes to education, teaching great English skills to its people, teaching technical skills, improving the technical institutes and the universities, and doing things that she needs to do to move this country forward towards the ensuing years with a more open ASEAN community. One wonders about all this and one worries about all this. At.least I do.

[Ozziepat]

Economic forecasts should be released on used paper napkins during happy hour at some second rate karaoke bar. Then perhaps they would be viewed with the appropriate amount of sobriety and respect.

[Tongdee]

Really no brainer that political instability is the bane of all investors. Those who falsely believe that the coup has brought back political stability are out of touch with reality. The longer the junta stay in power and delay the election, the more damage it will wreck to the economy.

The coup is addressing long ongoing problems that have developed into the fabric of Thai culture and will require extended corrective measures before they become ingrained.

The corruption must be "Replaced" with a new way of doing buisness. Thats from almost, ahem, the top to the bottom. Without a complete "Cleanse"

The remaining contagious infection < corruption> will begin anew. This process is sure to take time(4 years at least) before any effect on GDP. As for "Brought back"

please mr Loh, tell me which (20 years would be adequate ) period of political stability are you refering to in this great nation. Would you consider the Yellow shirt mobs

and the red shirt mobs building up to the inevitable battles in the street to be preferable to what is happening now??? Please enlighten me. I am open minded.

My current belief is the longer the current government is in charge, the more stable the next government and the next two decades at least will be in Thailand.

Investors ????? oh the allready superrich who want to increase the disparity in wages between workers incomes & the income of the megarich... ... ...

[Eric Loh]

Really no brainer that political instability is the bane of all investors. Those who falsely believe that the coup has brought back political stability are out of touch with reality. The longer the junta stay in power and delay the election, the more damage it will wreck to the economy.

The coup is addressing long ongoing problems that have developed into the fabric of Thai culture and will require extended corrective measures before they become ingrained.

The corruption must be "Replaced" with a new way of doing buisness. Thats from almost, ahem, the top to the bottom. Without a complete "Cleanse"

The remaining contagious infection < corruption> will begin anew. This process is sure to take time(4 years at least) before any effect on GDP. As for "Brought back"

please mr Loh, tell me which (20 years would be adequate ) period of political stability are you refering to in this great nation. Would you consider the Yellow shirt mobs

and the red shirt mobs building up to the inevitable battles in the street to be preferable to what is happening now??? Please enlighten me. I am open minded.

My current belief is the longer the current government is in charge, the more stable the next government and the next two decades at least will be in Thailand.

Investors ????? oh the allready superrich who want to increase the disparity in wages between workers incomes & the income of the megarich... ... ...

The popular defination of political instability is the propensity of a government to fall due to coup d' etat or political violence. Every investors fear abrupt change of government especially staged by the military for the simple reason that they fear uncertainty of the changes especially in a climate where public participations are restricted.

You keep a optimistic view of the future which is unknown to you. Well that's your perogative. History has not been kind to your optimism as all coups have never improve or stabilized the political divide.

Not that it is bad to have political divide. It is only bad when you don't allow the people to made the decision to stand behind the political divide and chose for themself who they want to be the government. Coups don't give you any choice.

You ask when did Thailand has political stability last 20 years. I would say that the year between 2001-2006 where the change of government was through a democractic election. That period also saw our economy strong to allow us to pay back all IMF loan and debt reduced to 41%.

By the way, if you care to read, there are lots of empirical studies on the relationship of coup and poor economic performance as against sustainable democracy and improve economic performance. Japan and Indonesia are good examples.