| Best
Voip Service Providers Chart |
 |
|
$9.95
- $16.58 |
|
 |
|
$19.99
- $39.99 |
|
 |
|
$9.95
- $15.95 |
|
Booming economy lifts Thai PM ahead of polls30 January 2005
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has one of Asia's most dynamic economies bolstering his re-election bid in February 6 polls, with a booming stock market, strong business confidence and solid fundamentals.
The billionaire telecom tycoon has presided over an economy that has weathered outbreaks of bird flu and SARS, a bloody insurgency, and the catastrophic tsunami, yet is still expected to post gross domestic product (GDP)growth of 5.5 to 6.5 percent in 2005.
Thailand's GDP surged by 6.2 percent in 2004 and by 7.8 percent the year before.
Since Thaksin took office four years ago, GDP has grown 35 percent to 171 billion dollars, while foreign reserves have doubled to 49 billion dollars.
Better still, the national debt has dropped to 47 percent of GDP, from 62 percent in 2001.
Inflation has stabilized between two and three percent, the balance of payments is in surplus, the government has balanced its 2005 budget for the first time since 1997, when the Asian financial crisis hit.
"From the perspective of stability, things are quite good," said Sriyan Pietersz, head of research of JP Morgan Securities.
Thaksin's innovative "dual track" approach has sought to take advantage of domestic and foreign factors at the same time, analysts said.
His government launched public works projects to stimulate growth at home when foreign demand weakened in 2001-2002, but then cut back on government spending as the economy geared up in 2003-2004.
"What has changed with this administration is to have put more emphasis on the local market rather than on the external demand like before," Pietersz said.
Private consumption accounted for 56 percent of GDP, making it the main engine of economic growth.
"They have created a domestic market, especially for the rural sector," Pietersz said.
But in late 2004, the consumer confidence index dropped near a three-year low, and analysts began to fret that soaring consumer credit and heightened private debt was beginning to resemble conditions before the 1997 crisis.
And the generally rosy economic picture belies Thailand's troubles in competing with booming neighbors, such as China and Vietnam, where "labor is sometimes better trained and cheaper," a European diplomat noted.
"Thailand has a real problem with the range of its economy, which relies on attracting foreign direct investment," he said.
In fact, foreign direct investment has yet to return to its pre-1997 levels, reaching some 350 billion dollars in the first half of 2004, or down 56 percent year-on-year.
But in the short term, the Stock Exchange of Thailand has praised Thaksin's handling of the economy.
"We are quite bullish on the stock market in 2005," Pietersz said.
This year the stock market is impatiently awaiting the resumption of moves to privatize public companies, especially the electric company, after labor protests scratched a bid to sell the firm in 2004.
Additional reforms in telecommunications are also expected.
Thaksin's fiercest critics complain about the unprecedented mix of business and politics brought by his government.
"The businesses that are doing well are the ones that revolve around Thaksin," one senior Thai bureaucrat said.
The Shin Corp. telecom empire, in which Thaksin's family owns a 39.3 percent stake, has seen its shares rise by 11 percent to its highest level since 1997, while the overall index has fallen 13.5 percent over the same period.
Source: AFP via Yahoo
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Related Telecom Articles
|
