Thai chamber boss sees light on economy’s horizon
In more than 20 years of living and doing business in Thailand, Peter J. van Haren has experienced up close the churning roller-coaster ride that sometimes grips the second largest economy in Southeast Asia.
But even though the current political impasse is one of the most serious challenges to business and investor confidence in those decades, van Haren, the current president of the Thai-Canada Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Bangkok, sees light at the end of the tunnel.
“On a positive note,” van Haren said in a recent email message after cataloguing some of the economic damage of the past few months, “it is interesting to see that Thailand became the ninth largest automobile producer in the world, overtaking Canada for the first time.”
And although automobile makers are covering their bets by exploring the potential for manufacturing in other Southeast Asian countries, “Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford and others all ramped up their investments in assembly plants and R and D centres in Thailand.”
The Bangkok skyline continues to be punctuated by new housing and retail developments. Construction of Bangkok’s massive mass transit project continues unabated.
A recent PwC survey of the investment intentions of international CEOs found that a high percentage of them regard Thailand as an attractive destination, despite the political uncertainty.
Even so, van Haren said he thinks it will be difficult for the Thai economy to achieve 4% growth this year, the top end of the forecast by the Bank of Thailand. Van Haren said he does not expect the political stalemate to be resolved until the middle of the year, and, therefore, the economic rebound not to come until the second half of 2014.
