Topic
World
Business | Asia
| Asia
Business |  Thailand
Economy - overview:
Thailand has
a well developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy, and welcomes
foreign investment. Thailand has fully recovered from the 1997-98 Asian
Financial Crisis and was one of East Asia's best performers in 2002-04.
Increased consumption and investment spending and strong export growth
pushed GDP growth up to 6.9% in 2003 and 6.1% in 2004 despite a sluggish
global economy. The highly popular government's expansionist policy, including
major support of village economic development, has raised concerns about
fiscal discipline and the health of financial institutions. Bangkok has
pursued preferential trade agreements with a variety of partners in an
effort to boost exports and maintain high growth, and in 2004 began negotiations
on a Free Trade Agreement with the US. In late December 2004, a major tsunami
took 8,500 lives in Thailand and caused massive destruction of property
in the southern provinces of Krabi, Phangnga, and Phuket.
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Accommodations
Asia
Hotels, Motels, and Inns
Agriculture - Products
rice, cassava (tapioca), rubber,
corn, sugarcane, coconuts, soybeans
Airlines
Airlines
in Asia
Airlines
Worldwide
Airports
Airports
in Asia
Airports
Worldwide
Country Budget
revenues: $30.86 billion
expenditures: $31.94 billion, including
capital expenditures of $5 billion (2004 est.)
Currency (code): baht (THB)
Currency Exchange Rates
baht per US dollar - 40.222 (2004),
41.485 (2003), 42.96 (2002), 44.432 (2001), 40.112 (2000)
Departments
Department
of Business Development (Ministry of Commerce)
Department
of Export Promotion
Department
of Industrial Works
Fiscal Year: 1 October - 30
September
GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$524.8 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
6.1% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing
power parity - $8,100 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 9%
industry: 44.3%
services: 46.7% (2004 est.)
Imports / Exports
Department
of Export Promotion
Exports: $87.91 billion
f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities:
textiles and footwear, fishery products, rice, rubber, jewelry, automobiles,
computers and electrical appliances
Exports - partners: US 15.9%,
Japan 13.9%, China 7.3%, Singapore 7.2%, Malaysia 5.4%, Hong Kong 5.1%
(2004)
Imports: $80.84 billion
f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities:
capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials, consumer goods, fuels
Imports - partners:
Japan 23.6%, China 8.6%, US 7.6%, Malaysia 5.8%, Singapore 4.4%, Taiwan
4.1% (2004)
Industries
Department
of Industrial Works
tourism, textiles and garments, agricultural
processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, light manufacturing such as jewelry,
electric appliances and components, computers and parts, integrated circuits,
furniture, plastics, world's second-largest tungsten producer, and third-largest
tin producer
Investing
Forex,
Foreign Exchange Market: Currency Trading
Labor Force & Unemployment Rate
Labor force: 36.43 million
(November 2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 49%, industry 14%, services 37% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate: 1.5%
(November 2004 est.)
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