Government urged to work with private sector in setting goal for country

"Whatever Thailand is going to be, whether a destination for entertainment or kitchen of the world, all sectors must know what they are going to do with the limited resources," he said.

He was one of several experts speaking at “Thailand Economic Outlook 2024: Change the Future Today” in Bangkok on Wednesday, hosted by Nation Group’s Thai-language business daily, Krungthep Turakij, to mark its 36th anniversary.

During the session, “New Growth New Opportunities”, Arthid said the Thai economy in the past 10 years had relied only on export and tourism. Thailand had sufficient cash reserves during that time, but the economic structure was not very strong. After the Covid-19 pandemic, people suffered from heavy debt burden, he said, adding that Thailand has faced a decline in revenue as the country has not yet recovered from the economic crisis.

To drive Thailand forward, he advised the government to cooperate with the private sector and set clear goals for what the country would be.

Arthid said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin should focus on important issues rather than urgent ones, and that the government should streamline working process of several departments to boost operational efficiency. He said there are four areas the government should focus on: climate change, geopolitics, logistics, ease of doing business, and political stability.

Potential of digital transformation

Advanced Info Service (AIS) CEO Somchai Lertsutiwong said Thailand was lucky as the private sector had developed digital infrastructure that enabled people to access digital services at a low price. 

With the existing strong digital infrastructure, Somchai advised the government to work on digital transformation and digital literacy. Thailand would be able to gain more competitive advantages if the country can utilise digital infrastructure properly.

He also outlined three keys to driving the digital economy in Thailand: Digital intelligence infrastructure; cross-industry collaboration, and human capital and sustainability.

Echoing Somchai, True Corporation CEO Manat Manavutiveth said the digital economy could be the tool to help Thailand achieve a 10 times increase in gross domestic product per capita, as digital transformation is expected to become the main driving force for development in the next 10 years.

“I believe in 2050, everything will be run on a platform and many more will be digitalised,” he said.

He added that AI would play an important role in the digital world, while robots would play an important role in the physical world. However, Manat believes that AI will not affect the employment market as there will be more jobs created in the future.

Manat concluded that the Thai government should try to develop the digital economy in connectivity, technology, platform, analytics and also the people.

Challenges and opportunities

During the discussion, Enrico Tanuwidjaja, economist a UOB Group’s Global Economics and Markets, said he expected the global economy to remain unchanged due to the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike. He expected the US interest rate to remain high next year. He believes it could take three years to return to neutral level at 2.5%.

"Now it can be said that the economy globally, regionally and in Thailand would also stay the same this year and next year," he said.

Even though inflation had reduced recently, Enrico said two things would affect the Asean economy — the energy crisis, and the food crisis. The energy crisis comes from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting crude oil production, and the El Nino phenomenon pushing up food prices.

He added that Asean countries should not hike their interest rates any further, as that would trigger a "strifeful demand".

Enrico said Thailand’s economy was resilient because it had rebounded quite soon, in 2021. However, he warned the government to keep an eye on public debt, fiscal policies, inflation, stronger baht and the ageing population.

He saw three areas where Thailand could boost exports — food, supported by the Thai baht’s appreciation, healthcare services due to the ageing population, and vehicles and auto parts.