Financial reform in Thailand

Abstract

It is observed through out the world that the financial crisis took Asian countries by storm. Living conditions in my homeland, Thailand, dropped dramatically. Income decreased, the prices of essential goods increased, the stock market collapsed, loans turned to bad debts, businesses closed down while the prices of imported goods skyrocketed. The situation made the Thai people aware of the economic problems. This Thesis explores the cause of the crisis such as the central bank and the currency speculation, the poor use of foreign loans and the bubble in both the economy and the stock market. We will look deeply into the currency exchange system for its strong and weak points, over spending in every sector of the economy especially the real estate sector. We will investigate why the interest rate was so high in Thai financial markets. Econometrics is used to analyse the data in this thesis. From the analysis we will see that the Thai economy is moving towards a recession by itself, lacking any key institution to repair it. It can be seen in hindsight that these problems could have easily been corrected and Thailand could have well avoided the recession. Now the crisis is over, Thailand is in a period of economic reconstruction and, hopefully, the monetary crisis will not recur in Thailand.

Date of Award	2001
Original language	English