BANGKOK: Latest data from Thailand paints a grim picture of an economy struggling to shake off the cloud of uncertainty after two years of military rule, with sluggish exports and weak private spending remaining a drag on the kingdom’s fragile recovery. But Dr Kobsak Pootrakool, the top economic adviser to the military government, is not overly concerned, arguing that economic prospects are actually looking up, with rising confidence amid planned reforms.
“It is not all about GDP (gross domestic product) numbers. Our main focus is putting in place reforms to provide a new foundation (for the economy),” he told The Straits Times in a recent interview that offered fresh insights into the military’s proposed overhaul of the Thai economy. Dr Kobsak, who is chief lieutenant to the military’s economic point man, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said that the overhaul is three-pronged: an infrastructure build-up to boost connectivity, a restructuring of Thailand’s industrial base to move it away from equipment manufacturing operations to higher value-added industries, and a sweeping reform of the vast agricultural sector.
The central platform of the overhaul involves the creation of a so-called Eastern Economic Corridor, covering the already established industrial provinces of Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.
