Thailand’s political pain is neighbors’ economic gain

At some point it doesn’t take an MBA-holding genius to translate anarchic street violence, political deadlock and plummeting popularity into “bad investment.”

Thailand’s neighbors are benefiting from three months of unrest in the kingdom, with investors shifting their wealth to nations such as Indonesia.

Nearly THB100 billion have been pulled from Thai stocks since Oct. 31, according to data from the Stock Exchange of Thailand. About THB6.3 billion has moved to Indonesian shares

“Thai growth fundamentals will be much weaker given a lack of investment and ongoing political uncertainty weighing on investor sentiment,” Mixo Das, an Asia ex-Japan equity strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, said in an e-mail interview with the Bangkok Post yesterday.

Growth will be much less than expected, as projections for 2014 have fallen from 5.1 percent to 3.1 percent in one month.

Some of that is due to damage done to the vital tourism sector. Dozens of nations have warned their citizens away from Thailand, and one million visitors are expected to stay away this month alone.

For more information visit Bangkok Post.

Photo: AFP



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