{"id":267026,"date":"2026-02-04T10:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267026\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:53:10","slug":"from-economic-tiger-to-the-sick-man-of-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267026\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018Economic Tiger\u2019 to the \u2018Sick Man of Asia\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As manufacturing stalls and household debt nears 90% of GDP, Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy faces a structural crisis and political instability.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The era of Thailand as a high-growth &#8220;Economic Tiger&#8221; has come to an abrupt halt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once the envy of its neighbours, the country is increasingly being referred to as the &#8220;Sick Man of Asia,&#8221; as reported by the Financial Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The nation now finds itself grappling with a severe economic paralysis across its three primary pillars: consumption, manufacturing, and tourism.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lg-webp.webp\" alt=\"Thailand: From \u2018Economic Tiger\u2019 to the \u2018Sick Man of Asia\u2019\" class=\"img-fluid w-100 showcaption-false\" style=\"width: 750px; height: 422px;\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\n        <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A Decade of Decay<\/p>\n<p>The transition from a regional powerhouse to a stagnant economy has occurred with alarming speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Burin Adulwattana, chief economist at Kasikorn Research Centre, the shift took place in just a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Having peaked with 13% growth in 1988, the Thai economy has been trapped at a meagre 2% growth rate for the last five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Several structural &#8220;anchors&#8221; are dragging the nation down:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770202390_662_lg-webp.webp\" alt=\"Thailand: From \u2018Economic Tiger\u2019 to the \u2018Sick Man of Asia\u2019\" class=\"img-fluid w-100 showcaption-false\" style=\"width: 750px; height: 422px;\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\n        <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Demographic Collapse: Thailand\u2019s population has shrunk for four consecutive years, with 2025 birth rates hitting a 75-year low.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Debt Distress: Household debt is now approaching 90% of GDP, the highest ratio in Asia, stifling domestic spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Eroding Edge: Thailand is rapidly losing its competitive advantage to more agile regional rivals.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 As manufacturing stalls and household debt nears 90% of GDP, Southeast Asia\u2019s second-largest economy faces a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[11388,138,219,111,139,69,131556,4327],"class_list":{"0":"post-267026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asean","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-south-east-asia","15":"tag-thailand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}