Page 34 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL8

Despite the gloomy prognosis, the experts believe Thailand’s geographic location, emerging middle class and influx of foreign workers from the ASEAN Economic Community from next year will save the withering economyhas been on par with OECD countries. But Thailand must have misplaced its investments in education.Another threat is the country’s ageing population. This is the case in many countries such as Japan and parts of the European Union. “But the question is whether Thailand will turn grey before it gets rich or not,” Mr Zachau said.Other speakers at the panel are likewise respected experts in the Thai economy. Pavida Pananond is associate professor of international business at Thammasat University’s Business School. Atikrai Chatikavanij founded Hunters Investments, a Bangkok-based investment firm. And Ian Gisbourne is head of research for Thailand and frontier ASEAN at UBS Investment Bank.Assoc Prof Panida believes the economy will remain sluggish for years. Most worrying is that Thailandmay lose its export competitiveness for reasons other than a global down- turn.“At the same time, exports of Singapore surged 18%,” she said. “My question is how two countries that are so close and similar in terms of products perform so differently?”Holding the country back is its inability to improve efficiency and productivity. According to Assoc Prof Pavida, Thai institutions are not competitive enough. Last year’s IMD Competitiveness Report lowered Thailand to 29th place from 27th in 2013, while neighbours Malaysia, Indonesia and of course Singapore are ranked higher.In terms of exports and manufac- turing, Thailand cannot do what Singapore did in creating more value-added export products, she said. Lack of skilled labour, innovation32 Elite+