Thailand investment market indicators

• Real GDP should grow this year by around 4.5%, compared with growth of 4% last year
• It is not necessary to look far in Thailand for evidence of economic strength. Exports are surging at an annual pace of more than 20% (with a continuing boom in overseas sales of cars, car parts and electronic goods)
• Reserves are at a record high, foreign capital keeps flooding in, industrial output is strong and private Thailand real estate investment is showing precious little sign of wilting
• Tourist arrivals are more than 30% higher than at the same time last year
• Thailand’s total external debt now amounts to no more than 28% of GDP, compared with 38% in Malaysia, 42% in Indonesia and almost 66% in the Philippines
• International reserves, which tend to be a good gauge of a country’s ability to fend off   the damaging effects of speculative capital flows, stand at more than US$ 55bn, almost twice as much as in Indonesia and more than three times the value of reserves in the Philippines
• During the two weeks surrounding the prime minister’s resignation, roughly THB 25bn of foreign cash poured into Bangkok’s stock market