Thailand Focus Week of May 11th, 2015

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Royal Thai Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Week of May 11, 2015 Executive Summary

  • Thailand opened U-Tapao airport to the U.S. to relay humanitarian aid and disaster relief to Nepal
  • Thailand stepped up investigations and called for regional meeting to solve Rohingya trafficking problem
  • Government launches command center to stop illegal fishing
  • Thai legislature supports referendum on new charter
  • HSBC exec touts investing in Thailand

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Thailand opened U-Tapao airport to the U.S. to relay humanitarian aid and disaster relief to Nepal

Thailand opened U-Tapao airport to the United States to use as an intermediate staging base (ISB) for flights bringing relief to earthquake-hit Nepal last week as the Thai government said it was also dispatching two more medical teams to the Himalayan Kingdom and would send a team of experts to help assess the damage to historic and religious sites. Read more

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Thailand stepped up investigations and called for regional meeting to solve Rohingya trafficking problem

Thailand stepped up its no-holds-barred effort to take down transnational human trafficking syndicates last week, issuing arrest warrants for 49 suspects and arresting 15, including local politicians and two police officers, as the investigation into the trafficking of Rohingya through Thailand widened to additional provinces and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called for a regional meeting to solve the problem at its source. Read more

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Government launches command center to stop illegal fishing

Thailand’s government opened a command center last week to coordinate efforts to stop illegal, unreported and undocumented (IUU) fishing by Thai and other vessels in the region. The command center will be supervised by the head of the Royal Thai Navy and housed at the Navy headquarters in Bangkok. Read more

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Thai legislature supports referendum on new charter

The National Legislative Assembly stated its support last week for a limited referendum on the new draft constitution, a key element in the government’s roadmap to rebuild a more sustainable democracy. Read more

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HSBC exec touts investing in Thailand

Thailand is still one of the most appealing countries for investors interested in Asia because of its planned infrastructure development, their impressive scale and the government’s desire to partner with the private sector, one of the top executives at Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) wrote last week. Read more

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In this issue

Thailand at a Glance

4th Quarter 2014 Key Indicators
GDP: 0.7%
Export: $56.8 billion
Import: $49.1 billion
Export growth rate: – 1.5%
Import growth rate: – 5.7%
Current account balance: Surplus by 9.815 billion USD
Trade surplus: $7.7 billion
Unemployment: 0.6%
Headline inflation: -0.52%
Official foreign reserves: $157.11 billion USD
2014
GDP: $373.6 billion
GDP per capita: $5,445
GDP growth: 1.5-2.0%

2013
GDP: $385 billion
GDP per capita: $5,647
GDP growth: 2.9%

2012
GDP: $366 billion
GDP per capita: $5,390
GDP growth: 6.5%

2011
GDP: $345.6 billion
GDP per capita: $5,113
GDP growth: 0.1%

Archives

May 4, 2015

Apr 27,2015
Apr 21,2015
Apr 15,2015
Apr 7,2015

March 30,2015
March 24,2015
March 16,2015
March 9,2015
March 2,2015

February 23,2015
February 17,2015
February 9,2015
February 2,2015

January 26,2015
January 20,2015
January 12,2015
January 5,2015

Thailand Focus 2014
Thailand Focus 2013
Thailand Focus 2012
Thailand Focus 2011

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