Can Thailand break out of its downward spiral?
Published Date: April 20, 2009 By Andrew Marshall The colour of the T-shirts worn by the mobs of protesters paralyzing Thai politics may change from time to time, but everything else about the country’s damaging deadlock remains depressingly familiar. Three years into Thailand’s divisive political standoff, neither side appears anywhere near winning a decisive victory – and as the fight drags on, the country’s economy is losing. “The whole vicious cycle seems set to continue,” said Danny Richards, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Most foreign portfolio investors have fled. Foreign direct investment, already hit by the global financial crisis, is also under threat: the last thing embattled multinationals need as they weather a worldwide storm is a country with intractable political problems. And tourism, a key pillar of the economy, is damaged every time international TV networks broadcast footage of violent confrontations in the so-called “Land of Smiles”. Thai poli
