Track Thailand's economy in English — business, trade, finance and market news, covered by Thai PBS World, Thailand's public broadcasting service.
The Ministry of Industry has ordered the immediate closure of a sugar mill in Udon Thani province, after the facility was found to have bought burned sugarcane in excess of the maximum quota of 25% of production capacity.
While the Thai government vows to launch a sandboxed bitcoin payment programme in Phuket, a Thai blockchain business leader is calling for immediate action to develop a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.
Economic growth in East and South Asia is strong, driven by private consumption and exports, despite risks from geopolitical tensions and other challenges, according to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2025 report.
The outlook for the Thai economy in 2025 points to a potential for growth while also being bogged down by the underlying challenges.
The Ministry of Commerce is working with Thailand’s private sector to increase exports of cassava and its processed products to the immense Chinese market.
The cabinet approved the budget ceiling for 2026 fiscal year today, setting it at 3.78 trillion baht, an increase of 27.9 billion baht from the 2025 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira reiterated today that Thais who are 60 and over will definitely receive the 10,000 baht financial support, under the “digital wallet” scheme, on January 29th.
Thailand’s inflation rate in 2024 was 0.4%. According to Office of Trade Policy and Strategy of the Commerce Ministry, this was primarily due to the rising prices of fuel, food and drinks for nine consecutive months.
Thailand should simplify its cumbersome regulations on airline ownership to promote the growth of the industry in ASEAN, while the country has led pre-travel visa-free programmes since the pandemic, according to the CEO of Capital A and AirAsia, Tony Fernandes.
Operators of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) will find it much easier to apply for rice export permits to export their product themselves, instead of through traditional rice exporters, now that the Foreign Trade Department (FTD) has reduced bureaucratic red tape to speed up the process.
Thailand’s economy will face more challenges and uncertainties this year, due to an intensified trade policy by the incoming Trump Administration against countries which enjoy substantial trade surpluses with the US, Thailand included, according to Dr. Kirida Phaophichit, research director for International Economics and Development Policy at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Finance Ministry have introduced a series of debt-relief measures in recent years to tackle the household and small business debt crisis.
