Economy
Thailand is Southeast Asia’s second largest economy with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around USD 500 billion. With a free-market economy, the Kingdom has a strong domestic market and a growing middle class, with the private sector being the main engine of growth. The Thai economy is well integrated into the global marketplace, with exports accounting for over 70 percent of the Kingdom’s GDP. Thailand also has a strong industrial sector (40 percent of GDP) and a robust and growing services sector (50 percent of GDP) centered on the tourism and financial services industries.Though traditionally an agrarian society and historically one of the world’s few net food exporters, the agricultural sector today accounts for approximately 9 percent of the country’s GDP.
Given the importance of exports to Thailand, it has been a leader in the region in terms of trade liberalization and facilitation with the rest of the world, starting with its Asian neighbors. Thailand is a key player in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enjoying a strategic location that provides easy access to a larger market of over 660 million people, making it a community of connectivity, a single market and production base. Furthermore, Thailand’s convenient access to China and India, as well as to other East Asian countries such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, takes this huge consumer market to even bigger proportions.
Thailand’s friendly relations and expanding networks of free trade agreements with other countries have further opened up trade access to markets both within and outside the region. These, coupled with the Kingdom’s strategic positioning, have made the country a regional center for international travel and trade, as well as a hub for various industries, of which the most notable are the automotive industry and agro-industries. With a favorable investment climate, an entrepreneurial spirit and an open society, Thailand has been chosen by many businesses, media firms, as well as international organizations and non-governmental organizations
