Thailand - Overview:
The Kingdom of Thailand is situated in the heart of Southeast Asia and has a population of over 60 million people. The majority of the country lies in the Indochinese Peninsula, while the southern most extremity occupies part of the Malay Peninsula. Within Thailand there are four distinct geographical areas, with mountains in the north, a semi-arid plateau in the northeast, fertile central plains, and beautiful beaches and offshore islands in the southern peninsula. The country shares borders with Cambodia, Laos and the Gulf of Thailand to the east, Malaysia to the south and Burma (Myanmar) and the Andaman Sea to the west.
Thailand has a free market economy that has been transformed in the last few decades, from one that was largely based on agriculture, into one of South East Asia's most diverse markets with a significant industrial sector and a labour-intensive, export oriented manufacturing sector. A combination of low wages, low inflation, a stable exchange rate and policy reforms that opened the economy to increased trade, led to rapid and sustained economic growth between 1985 and 1995, averaging almost 9 per cent per annum. However, the Asian financial crisis in 1997 hit the country hard and it was forced to accept a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 1998, the economy shrank by over 10 per cent.
Since then reforms in areas such as government administration and banking have aided recovery and in 1999 and 2000 the economy expanded by 4.2 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively. This level of growth dropped in 2001 to just 1.4 per cent but rose to 5.2 per cent in 2002. In fact, Thailand has received great acclaim for the way it has handled its economy in recent years and has been able to begin repaying the IMF ahead of schedule.
In 2002, Thailand was positioned 34th on the IMD World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2002, which ranks countries according to their economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. Thailand's neighbour, Malaysia, was ranked in 26th position.
Tourism has become a major industry and there are in the region of 10 million tourists visiting the country each year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Many of the major Thai industries are centred on crops and include rubber products, textiles and food, drink and tobacco processing. In the last few years, high technology goods such as electrical appliances and computer equipment have become major export earners. Thailand's main trading partners include Japan, the US, China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The country is well connected to the surrounding region and beyond. Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport, located approximately 25 kilometres north of central Bangkok, is Thailand's principal airport and offers daily flights to Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. It caters for more than 25 million passengers a year but will soon be superseded by the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport being constructed in Samut Prakarn province, approximately 30 kilometres east of Bangkok. The new airport is due for completion in 2004 but the lengthy process involved in choosing contractors and other delays are expected to prolong the construction process. The first stage of construction will provide facilities for dealing with up to 30 million passengers a year, but when completed the airport will be capable of handling 100 million passengers a year.
Thailand has two major ports; Bangkok (Klong Toey) Port and the deep water Laem Chabang Port, located about 130 kilometres from down-town Bangkok. The former has been the country's major port since it opened in the early 1950s, while Laem Chabang Port has been designed primarily to service large container ships and bulk carriers that cannot be accommodated by Bangkok Port.
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