TY - BOOK ID - 135973890 TI - Thailand Economic Monitor, April - June 2009 PY - 2009 PB - Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Accounting KW - Agricultural Cooperatives KW - Agriculture KW - Banking Sector KW - Bankruptcy KW - Capital Flows KW - Commercial Banks KW - Commodity Prices KW - Communications Technology KW - Consumers KW - Credit Default Swaps KW - Developing Countries KW - Domestic Debt KW - Economic Forecasting KW - Economic Growth KW - Elasticity of Demand KW - Exchange Rates KW - Expenditures KW - Exporters KW - Financial Crisis KW - Financial Institutions KW - Financial Sector KW - Fiscal & Monetary Policy KW - Fiscal Policy KW - Free Trade Agreements KW - Gdp KW - Global Economy KW - Governance KW - Gross Domestic Product KW - Income Inequality KW - Inflation KW - Insurance KW - Local Government KW - Macroeconomics and Economic Growth KW - Monetary Policy KW - Moneylenders KW - Private Investment KW - Public Debt KW - Public Sector Development KW - Public Sector Management and Reform KW - Public Spending KW - Purchasing Power KW - Recession KW - Remittances KW - Savings KW - Securities KW - Social Development KW - Social Safety Nets KW - Trade Finance KW - Unemployment KW - Wages KW - World Trade Organization UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:135973890 AB - A solid financial armor could not protect Thailand against the impact of the global financial crisis on its real economy. Despite a sound banking system and low external vulnerabilities, the Thai economy contracted 5.7 percent between October 2008 and March 2009, as the magnitude and speed of the contraction in foreign demand, and resulting shock to the real economy, has been greater than anticipated. There continues to be little impact of the global financial crisis on Thailand's banks: liquidity remained adequate as financial institutions did not face solvency concerns given their adequate capitalization and lack of exposure to 'toxic' assets or risky derivative contracts. The combination of a sound financial sector, low external roll-over and balance-of-payment financing requirements, and, more recently, large current account surpluses, has led to capital inflows, build-up in reserves and an appreciation of the Baht relative to other currencies in the region. However, the impact of the global crisis on the real sector was far more severe than expected. Export volumes contracted by 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to the World Bank's forecast in December of a 3.0 percent expansion. Exports contracted a further 16 percent in the first quarter of 2009. The aggravation of Thailand's political crisis, which had been dampening investor and consumer confidence since 2006, compounded the shock to the real economy. As a result, real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009 after 38 quarters of growth, and is expected to contract for 2009 as a whole, the first annual contraction since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. ER -