Thai Junta dancing and high household debt
Two interesting articles from the FT in the past few weeks about Thailand, first up is a commentary on politics
In the latest example of what one commentator has dubbed his “compulsive loquaciousness”, he insisted to guests at an international publishers’ conference in Bangkok last week that he was not their enemy.
But what came next was from a more sinister side of the Land of Smiles than the one shortly to be displayed in London. “I follow you everywhere,” he said. “You might find me annoying. You need to learn to listen.”
Source: FT
And the next is an economic commentary on how high Thailand’s household debt to GDP is, it’s essentially at the same levels of the US.
One important reason for the Thai debt rise is the financial largesse after 2001 of the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, the plutocrat turned populist prime minister, and his allies. Policies including generous rice-farming subsidies, business development loans in rural areas and tax breaks on new car purchases helped propel the Shinawatra party machine to victory in every election for the past 14 years.
Like so many of Thailand’s long-running political and economic problems, the leap in household debt is a shared responsibility of the various players who have fought so bitterly for power over the past decade. So far, there is little sign of the generals reversing this worrying trend.
Source: FT