Recession

Bloomberg:

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter, contracting the most in a decade as the nation slid into a recession.


Gross domestic product fell 7.1 percent last quarter from a year earlier, after declining a revised 4.2 percent in the previous three months, the government said today. The median estimate of 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 6.5 percent drop.


“The first quarter should be the worst,” said Rajeev Malik, a Singapore-based economist at Macquarie Group Ltd. “There is a strong likelihood the economy will grow in the fourth quarter.”
The government has boosted spending on training, cash handouts and public works to buoy consumption after the worst global economic slump since World War II and political protests hurt Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. The central bank said last week there are signs the contraction is moderating.


The government “will do whatever we can” to ensure economic expansion by this year’s final quarter, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on May 20. The same day, the Bank of Thailand ended its most aggressive string of rate cuts ever, keeping borrowing costs at 1.25 percent even while saying risks to the economy remain.


I thought Abhisit was supposed to be the economic golden boy.

His short-term vision is just to print and spend money and give it to Newin's cronies who control all the governments departments notorious for corruption. How many have confidence in Thailand's version of trickle up economics?

No medium-term vision.

No long-term vision.

No plan for reform--economic, institutional or otherwise.

Most of Thai media continues to krub at Mark's feet, even though there really is no reason to, which only proves again how superficial the media is in examining Mark's economic program. They do what they do best: pontificating from afar all the political shenanigans that are happening behind the scenes.

Read Thai Crisis. He has much of the run down on how Abhisit's economic program so far has been ineffectual if not counter-productive. You won't get that type of analysis from the Abhisit yes crowd in the Thai media.