BangkokPost-Feb 23
Vietnam’s GDP is likely to catch up with Thailand’s within two years unless the latter undertakes meaningful economic reforms, warn academics. Aat Pisanwanich, an independent economist, said Thai GDP is around US$500 billion, while Vietnam’s is already more than $400 billion. Both foreign direct investment and export values are higher in Vietnam than Thailand. Although Vietnam has fewer high-quality universities than Thailand, within five years Hanoi aims to thrust its universities into the world’s top 300. Using income per capita, Malaysia is deemed a developed country, generating copy 5,000 per person per year. Thailand has remained at about $7,000 per person per year for a long time. Vietnam also has a much larger population of roughly 100 million, compared with 66 million for Thailand. He said addressing Thailand’s economic problems requires two parallel approaches: economic stimulus measures together with structural reform to address the root causes, such as agricultural or export competitiveness. This strategy also requires tackling corruption and reforming the civil service by selecting capable people to do the work, rather than appointing people because of their political affiliation, said Mr Aat. The prolonged use of populist policies, together with Thailand’s structural economic problems, has resulted in Thailand being labelled the “sick man of Asia”, said Mr Aat. Before long, Thailand’s economy may fall to the bottom among the five developing countries in Asean, he noted. “The main stumbling block undermining competitiveness is the worsening level of corruption in the civil service.” Read more at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3203105/thailand-is-losing-ground-to-vietnam.
