Thailand's finance minister warns of falling investment and calls for reforms to revive the country's economic growth.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira delivered a keynote address at the opening of the "Thailand Investment Forum 2025: The Great Depression" on Saturday, June 7.
He outlined the government's fiscal measures to revive the economy, boost investor confidence and revitalize the Thai capital market.
This forum, organized by Krunthep Turakij, Thansettakij and Post Today, allowed Minister Pichai to present his vision under the theme:
“Moving Thailand Forward: Fiscal Measures to Relaunch the Economy, Boost Confidence, and Revitalize the Thai Capital Market. ”
A clear strategy is essential for investor confidence
Minister Pichai stressed the crucial importance of defining clear national strategies and guidelines to reassure investors.
He insisted that any measures introduced must have transparent objectives aimed at truly stimulating economic progress and sustainable growth.
The Finance Minister highlighted the government's role in strengthening investor confidence, which he identified as fundamental to increasing investment levels and boosting the Thai economy.
Investment: at the heart of economic growth
Drawing on historical data, the minister illustrated the direct correlation between investment levels and economic growth.
He discussed Thailand's periods of strong economic growth, noting that good economic performance (such as GDP growth reaching 10% or more) typically coincided with an investment-to-GDP ratio of 40-50%.
These historical examples show how significant investments, whether from the private or public sector, create a virtuous circle that results in increased employment, consumption and, consequently, GDP.
However, the current situation presents a striking contrast.
The Finance Minister revealed that Thailand's investment-to-GDP ratio has fallen to around 6%, which is significantly lower than historical levels and well below the global norm of 30-40%.
This dramatic reduction in investment has a direct impact on the overall growth potential of the economy.
Meeting investment challenges
Pichai acknowledged that the decline in investment levels in Thailand represents a long-standing systemic problem rather than a temporary setback.
He highlighted several key areas requiring urgent government intervention to create a more investment-friendly environment:
The government must review and modernize outdated legislation that hinders investment, streamlining procedures and facilitating processes for domestic and foreign investors.
Public investment in critical infrastructure , including transport systems, energy networks and digital connectivity, is essential to support new investment and strengthen the country's competitiveness.
Investments should focus on high-potential sectors that align with national development goals , such as high-tech industries, agricultural processing and tourism, in order to create added value and better distribute income.
See also:
Facing the crisis, the sacred oxen offer a sign of hope to Thailand
Imminent crisis in Thailand: the real estate market is shaky
Tourism in crisis: Thailand responds to criticism from foreign travelers
Thailand: Restaurant crisis amid 40% drop in purchasing power
Credit crisis: the Bank of Thailand sounds the alarm
Towards a major financial crisis in Thailand?
Source: The Nation Thailand
Prepare your trip to Thailand
Book bus, train, or boat in Thailand
Manage your money while traveling with Wise
If our news, tourist information, or cultural content has been useful to you and you'd like to thank us:
You can follow us on:
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google News
Or install our app:
Install the Toute la Thaïlande app on your smartphone
2 comments
How can you expect investment to be green in Thailand when the country is suffering from Donald Trump's tax rage without having the tools and weapons necessary to counteract the effects of these measures which are hampering exports to the United States?
And this is obviously only one aspect of the overall problem, with among other concerns related to the economy and the finances of the State, a strong Bath, eternally above its real value compared to the international stock market, poorly adapted to the economic realities of the country and artificially overvalued by unilateral decisions against a backdrop of disagreement and arm wrestling between the management of the Central Bank of Thailand and the Shinawatra government to maintain this policy, and which does not favor the balance of manufacturing exports in the areas of food and all exported consumer goods, industrial sectors of robotics and AI technologies, finished products and spare parts in the automobile, computer technology, processing industries, etc, etc…
Add to this the regional geopolitical situation, the public health and toxic environmental problems of the fauna, flora and rural habitat of the populations of the provinces on the border with Burma, and the military tensions with Cambodia which are dangerously flirting with an armed regional conflict for a few dozen meters of a border which has been poorly demarcated for decades, and whose derisory stake in comparison with the risks incurred is made up of a few acres of land between economically sterile mountainous jungle and old ruined stones of a mythical temple..., and here we are with the current sad assessment of a Thailand which is losing its waters (while waiting for the next floods!) and which in a few weeks will give birth to an economic assessment of the first half of 2025 for which no one will uncork the champagne!
Economically, Thailand is no longer "selling itself", Thailand has become an "expensive" country, Thailand, which has lost since the Covid crisis from which it has never really recovered, all its assets which encouraged numerous foreign investments in all areas...
Even international tourism (let alone moribund domestic tourism, given the colossal household debt and the equally significant drop in Thai purchasing power, up to 40% for certain consumer products), which we thought had returned to the full glory of its "pre-covid" years, is suffering in this year 2025, which should have been the year of new records, cascading setbacks, consequences of a policy oriented towards horizons of societal choices beyond its means and of fiscal, social and immigration measures poorly adapted to Thai reality, thus widening even further the gap between the dreams (nightmares) of the political elites and other government and economic leaders on the one hand and the working population whose means of prosperity and investment have melted like snow in the sun, consequences of a waste of public finances in operations to "support" the domestic economy which have only emptied the state coffers by increasing the public debt and placing the 2025 GDP on the brink of collapse. historic deficit!!!
And the government, never short of statements highlighting solutions to be implemented in theory only (after noting the measures taken since the 2024 economic assessment), finds itself more than ever at the approaching deadline of a very pessimistic first half of the year compared to the ambitions displayed and without being able to undertake a necessary total overhaul of its global economy due to a lack of financial resources managed responsibly.
How can you expect investors, whether Thai or international, to find reasons to invest in the future of a country whose prosperity seems to be fading month by month?
There remains a fundamental question that appears little in the country's specialized press: does the current government have in its ministerial ranks the right competent people and economic and financial elites capable of lifting the country out of the economic slump in which it has been swimming since the end of 2024 or has Thailand reached its maximum threshold of "HPI" (high intellectual potential) brains without having the resources of one or more "supermen" saviors of the nation and capable of righting the rudder of a Thai Titanic???
An iceberg in your Mojito, Miss Shinawatra?
Shorten it brother!