Economy of Thailand
Economy of Thailand
Currency
Thai baht (THB)
Fiscal year
1 October - 30
September
GDP per capita
(PPP)
$8,700 (2008 est.)
GDP by sector agriculture (11.4%), in-
dustry (44.5%), services
(44.1%) (2008 est.)
Inflation
5.8% (2008 est.)
Pop below
poverty line
10% (2004 est.)
Labour force
37.25 million (2008
est.)
Labour force
by occupation
agriculture (42.6%), in-
dustry (20.2%), services
(37.1%) (2005 est.)
Unemployment 1.4% (2008 est.)
Main
industries
Automobiles and Auto-
motive parts (11%), Fin-
ancial Services (9%),
Electric appliances and
components (8%), Tour-
ism (6%), cement, auto
manufacturing, heavy
and light industries, ap-
pliances, computers
and parts, furniture,
plastics, textiles and
garments, agricultural
processing, beverages,
tobacco
Trading Partners
Exports
$174.9 billion (2008
est.)
Main partners U.S. 12.6%, Japan
11.6%, the People’s Re-
public of China 9.7%,
Singapore 6.3%, Hong
Kong 5.7%, Malaysia
5.1% (2007)
Imports
$159.1 billion (2008
est.)
Main Partners
Japan 20.3%, the
People’s Republic of
China 11.6%, U.S.
6.8%, Malaysia 6.2%,
UAE 4.9%, Singapore
4.5%, Taiwan 4.1%,
(2007)
Public finances
Public debt
$81.6 billion (37.9% of
GDP (2007 est.))
External debt
$67.01 billion (31
December 2008)
Revenues
$49.37 billion (2008
est.)
Expenses
$54.29 billion (2008
est.)
Economic aid None
The economy of Thailand is an emerging
economy which is heavily export-dependent,
with exports accounting for more than two
thirds of gross domestic product (GDP) The
exchange rate is Baht 33.00/USD.
Thailand has a GDP worth $8.5 trillion
Baht (on a purchasing power parity (PPP)
basis), or US$627 billion (PPP). This classi-
fies Thailand as the 2nd largest economy in
Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Despite this,
Thailand ranks midway in the wealth spread
in Southeast Asia as it is the 4th richest na-
tion according to GDP per capita, after Singa-
pore, Brunei and Malaysia.
It functions as an anchor economy for the
neighboring developing economies of Laos,
Burma, and Cambodia. Thailand’s recovery
fr