Thailand may have seen its best economic days. The one-time star risks settling into a new ¡ª and entrenched ¡ª role as Southeast Asia¡¯s laggard. The ruling conservative bloc shows scant appetite for rekindling the rapid gains that made the country a model for contemporary standouts like Vietnam.
Once it was clear in this month¡¯s general election that royalist legislators had turned back a challenge from progressives, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared Thailand was in ¡°a steady state.¡± Investors praised the result for providing stability to a nation that has been plagued by decades of coups, short-term cabinets and deep social divisions. The stock market soared the day following the ballot and the currency climbed. Foreigners bought the most local equities in four years.
The premier¡¯s assessment was intended as a positive. In a turbulent world, there¡¯s something to be said for minimizing disruption. As far as the economy goes, though, he was making a virtue of mediocrity. It¡¯s hard to see what could lift the country out of the doldrums. Tourism, a reliable source of growth for decades, is having a hard time.
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