The prime minister believes the Thai economy can grow six percent this year given the strong expansion in export and domestic consumption. Speaking during his meeting with investors, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva noted the remarkable rise in export, private investment and household consumption reflect that the country has recovered from the economic downturn.

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PM Beleives 6% Econ Growth Possible

Sectors linked to external demand (namely, manufacturing, hotels and transport) have been the main contributors to growth since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, and have also determined the dynamics of the economy in 2008-09. These sectors have accounted for almost all of the annual changes in real GDP.
The continuation of certain government policies, especially the pension to the elderly and free education should also support higher consumption levels for the poor. The longer-term goal of reducing reliance on external demand will take time, especially given political uncertainties that hinder the government’s ability to implement not only its investment program but also needed structural reforms.

Alexander Wood, a founding partner of AWR Lloyd, believes the global crisis has acted as a catalyst for a fundamental, structural change in the global capital markets. The real new players in the markets are the sovereign wealth funds.
But for the smaller companies, you see much greater volatility in returns,’’ he said, adding that smaller firms on the SET with market cap below $200 million offer 40% to 60% lower long-term TSRs compared with their larger brethren.

The modern Thai capital market can essentially be divided into two phases, beginning with “The Bangkok Stock Exchange” which was privately owned, followed by the establishment of “The Securities Exchange of Thailand”.

The inception of the Thai stock market began as far back as July 1962, when a private group established an organized stock exchange as a limited partnership. The group later became a limited company and changed its name to the “Bangkok Stock Exchange Co., Ltd.” (BSE) in 1963.
Despite its well-intended foundation the BSE was rather inactive. Annual turnover value consisted of only 160 million baht in 1968, and 114 million baht in 1969. Trading volumes continued to fall sharply thereafter to 46 million baht in 1970, and then 28 million baht in 1971. The turnover in debentures reached 87 million baht in 1972, but stocks continued to perform poorly, with turnover hitting an all time low of only 26 million baht. The BSE finally ceased operations in the early 1970s.

It is generally accepted that the BSE failed to succeed because of a lack of official government support and a limited investor understanding of the equity market.