The New Year is a critical period in Thailand's economic calendar as wealthy Western tourists pour into the south-east Asian country making for a vibrant, if often over-crowded, atmosphere in the country's urban hotspots. But the hubbub found in Bangkok or Chiang Mai belies the underlying political turmoil and economic malaise that has resulted in a testing two years throughout the country. Nevertheless, Thailand's government has not been deterred from advancing with major financial sector restructuring: indeed, 2010 marks the beginning of a five-year period of ambitious banking and capital market reform that the government hopes will form the basis of future economic growth.
Since the bloodless military coup of 2006, Thailand's economic performance has been frustrated by severe political discord and civil unrest. While Thailand's south-east Asian neighbours enjoyed boom-time economic expansion upwards of 7% for the years 2006 and 2007, Thailand experienced solid but unremarkable gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.5% and 4.8%, respectively. The situation has not been helped by the global economic slowdown. Dependent on exports for some 70% of its economic output, the south-east Asian nation has been assaulted by the collapse in global trade, which caused a 3.5% decline in GDP growth for 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
