Noah Nakaoka

Mr. Lay

English 11 Section 2A

May 19, 2022

Economic Crisis in Thailand

Introduction

There have been many countries around the world that have been affected by the spread

of covid and the war in Ukraine. One of the countries that has been affected the most is Thailand.

With Thailand having the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, you would think that they

would be okay with the effects of those problems but has made the economy worse. According

to Trading Economics, that covers Thailand’s inflation rate, with an inflation rate of 3.32% they

started the 2022 year in January, the rate increased to almost 6% in March with a 5.73% inflation

rate. With these groundbreaking numbers, Thailand has been struggling to get their industries

and their resources back to where it should be. Another thing that is not helping Thailand is there

are natural disasters affecting people homes. Disasters like tsunami’s, floods, and earthquakes

have been wreaking havoc on Thailand and it has been pushing the citizens of Thailand into

poverty because they must restart with their homes and their resources.

With Thailand struggling with their economy, industries, and productions with resources,

since the pandemic started, there is always in need of improvement. There are people around the

country of Thailand that are willing to help others and donate things that they don’t need like

food, and supplies to the people who are in need. There are also non-profit organizations around

the country that receives donations from others and uses those donations to give back to the

community. One of the most outstanding non-profit organizations in Thailand is Unity Concord
(UCI). The UCI helps certain areas that are struggling in Thailand. They hold numerous amounts

of food drives and clothing drives, and they donate all of what they earned from the drives back

to the community. They have also been taking what they earned, money wise and buy new things

and they would donate that back to the community as well.

Thailand is one of the countries that has been affected by inflation and the pandemic, that

has been sending families into poverty and into a financial crisis. Although Covid-19 has been

slowing down around the world and businesses, factories, and shops have been slowly opening,

it’s still not enough for Thai citizens. Soaring Covid-19 infections spreading into the industrial

sector could lead to scarcity of domestic goods, hurting consumers. The Federation of Thai

Industries (FTI) is having a hard time slowing down the spread of Covid -19 around their

industries. Thai industries like auto parts and even food industries have been affecting Thailand’s

economy and effecting shortages throughout the country.

The problem

Thailand has been struggling with the spread of Covid-19. Thailand has been averaging

around 14,000 cases a day and it hasn’t been slowing down, with the rise of cases many families

have been affected by the virus. At first Thailand hasn’t been affected by the spread of covid

cases but as the months went by covid has been rapidly spreading throughout the country. Covid

has been targeting workers and especially factory and industry workers. “With many workers out

with covid, the FTI has had to shut down numerous industries, factories, and shops. With all the

closings, it has been affecting Thailand’s economy and their prices for living necessities.” (FTI

2021). Many families have been going into debt since many families have been getting laid off

their jobs due to covid shutting down mostly all shops and businesses around Thailand. Even if

the cases start to go down in Thailand the country is going to take a long time to recover from the
economic and supply debt that covid has left Thailand in. It would also take Thailand a long time

to get their business and shops open again and back to work. Also, the production is very slow

sometimes in Thailand and getting it back up and started will be a great challenge for them as

they still recover. It would also take a long time for Thailand to slowly recover their economy

from covid.

Since the outbreak of the war, open hostiles against Ukraine have prompted the US, UK,

and the EU to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Russia. According to PBS World, this affects

Thailand’s trade and their economy since the sanctions with Russia are getting tighter. There's

also another section in the article where it argued that “Covid affected the Thailand economy and

inflation rate by 5.57% this makes it harder on families to buy the supplies that they need and to

acquire the necessities that they need.” (Thai PBS 2020). There is some statistics that showed

how Covid affected the economy and how it affected the inflation rates. The article stated that in

March the inflation rate rose from 5.73%, that was the highest monthly raise in 13 years in

Thailand history. It's also not helping that business production and factory production is getting

slower and slower since the war is going on. This source also shows that Thailand’s prices in

food like rice, noodles, meat, and more have rose significantly more than 5.5% in the past year.

The website also stated the inflation rates are expected and are going to increase even more than

it already was due to the war in Ukraine which is going to affect the gas prices and the food

prices. This makes it worse for families who are suffering in Thailand to even buy the simple

living necessities that they need to survive like food, clothing, and shelter.

According to the Borgen Project, “7% of children were not fed enough, and they are now

considered underweight. This is due to their lack of recourses of food and nourishment; this also

affects the next generations of Thai’s. The poverty rate was just 7.2%.” (Borgen Project 2020).
This figure has risen to almost 10%. That amounts to 2 million more people living beneath the

poverty line, a substantial increase in only a few years. The rise in poverty does not occur in only

a few of the country’s regions. “Since 61 out of 77 provinces have seen a rise in poverty, one

cannot attribute the current situation regarding poverty in Thailand to one specific community or

circumstance.” (Borgen Project 2020) Even though Thailand has the second largest economy in

Southeast Asia there are still these problems about money within poor families. Natural disasters

that people cannot control usually hit Thailand very hard. Disasters like tsunamis, floods, and

droughts have all affected the people of Thailand and even driving many Thai’s into poverty

since many of their resources got destroyed. Even though those natural disasters are inevitable

many farmers who are now poor due to the natural disasters fail to recover due to the lack of

safety nets to protect them from disasters like tsunamis or floods. With all these disasters, it does

affect the economy of Thailand and it affects the inflation rate as well as inflation can go up due

to all the disasters destroying homes, natural resources and many more.

According to The World Bank, “More than 70% of people who were interviewed

experienced a decline in their income and struggled to keep their income at a stable pace. Also

50% of interviewees either had their jobs lost or had their jobs affected due to the pandemic”

(The World Bank 2021). Since the Thai government was very strict with their lockdowns as

many factories, businesses and stores had to close, it was hard for people to get the living

necessities that they need, and some restrictions still affect the people today. Since there are still

restrictions in Thailand today many people are struggling to get the recourses that they need to

live, things like clothes and food. Also, the factories in Thailand aren’t helping as well as they

are still recovering from the effects from covid and the production in the factories are getting
slower and slower. With the low-income affecting families, it was hard for them to put food on

clothing on the table due to covid taking many people’s jobs away from them.

Solution

I used the Unity Concord’s website and talked to one of their managers Mrs. Muyana

about their mission at Unity Concord. Mrs. Muyana was so kind to answer my questions and she

stated that they are a non-profit organization that. She stated that in Unity Concord volunteers are

always motivated not to do it for the money but to do it for the people and the people who they

are affecting. When we sent emails back and forth, she was very happy to help us on our project,

especially when it involved helping others who are not as fortunate as us. She also states that she

helps manage many drives around Thailand and she helps a lot of families who need their help.

Mrs. Muyana manages food drives and clothing drives in Unity Concord and her and her

company accept all kinds of donations.

Donations from clothing to cash Unity Concord does anything to collect the things that

they need and distribute to families who are in dire need of food, clothing, toiletries and so many

other things that we take for granted. Our mission for our project was to at least help one family

or person and provide them with anything that we have that they need or need in the future that

would benefit them and get them out of the struggle or to even make the struggle a little bit less.

Unity Concord can take our donation and find a family or person and need and donate our

supplies to that person who will help us solve and achieve our objective. Unity Concord also

shows great vales on how we should give back to the community especially when they are

struggling, and they are trying so hard.

 Organizations like Unity Concord and Habitat for Humanity focuses on families who are

struggling in Thailand. These families need clothing, toiletries, and other living necessities, most

of these families live in a certain area in Thailand that struggle. For example, Unity Concord tries

to help families who are in the northeast section of Thailand and that section of Thailand are

usually people who are immigrants from other nearby countries that are trying to look for a better

life. Habitat for Humanity has also been trying to help, their goal is to try and make a sustainable

community development and they need everything they can get that includes things like clothing

and toiletries. Their website also states that: “12.56% live under the poverty line.” (Habitat for

Humanity 2020). Despite a surge in the economy in 2009 that reduced the poverty line by 13%

from 21% to 8% it rose back up due to the pandemic that shut down Thailand’s economy and it

also made the poverty line rise again.

Unity Concord also helps kids that need clothing and hygiene items. I asked one of the

managers Mrs. Muyana, that worked there, and she stated, “We have provided 40 children and 6

staff availed jackets and pants for this up-and-coming winter season and, we have provided them

with hygiene items that they need.” (Muyana 2022). Mrs. Muyana and her organization has

helped numerous communities around Thailand and have provided families and children with

care and their needs. Mrs. Muyana is so experienced in her job and what she does, with about 30

years of teaching and giving back to the community, Mrs. Muyana is a prime example in what

values we should strive for. At Unity Concord Mrs. Muyana has been helping children to adults

to help them out of the struggle, they have been receiving, clothes, food, oil, cans, and many

more living necessities that others need that will help them make their lives easier. We are
looking forward to helping her with her work and hoping that we can make a difference in

another country.

Conclusion

Even though that Thailand has one of the largest economies in southeast Asia, they are

still slowly recovering from the world’s crisis like covid and the Ukraine war. These factors

going around Thailand isn’t helping their industries, as food industries and many more are failing

to start up again. With the industries struggling it’s making the inflation in Thailand to go up, as

the country is having a hard time getting the resources they need. For example, the inflation rate

was very bad in March for Thailand as the rate of inflation rose to almost 6%, this made history

for Thailand as the country has never experienced this high of an inflation rate in 13 years. The

war in Ukraine also isn’t helping as many resources are being blocked off from them and

affecting their trade with other countries. Food prices and gas prices go up due to the altercation

in the war.

There is hope for Thailand, many people are generous enough to donate living necessities

that they don’t need to organizations like Unity Concord, and other donation drives. Unity

Concord has a mission to help the people of Thailand recover from their poverty and help them

get out of the struggle. Unity Concord uses their platform to help spread awareness to others to

show how many people in Thailand are struggling and how they can get all the help that they can

get. Unity Concord and their managers like Mrs. Muyana has a goal to help everyone they can in

Thailand. Mrs. Muyana has been working hard to receive dominations from other people and to

distribute those donations to other people around the country that is struggling. Unity Concord

isn’t just an organization, it’s a close family for all the members, helpers, donators, and the

people that they help. This is a prime example of what we stand for in Maryknoll and in our
company as well, so we are very happy to do what we can and try to help them as much as

possible.

Works cited

Stella Kaendera and Lamin LeighIMF Asia and Pacific Department. “Five Things to Know about
Thailand's Economy and Covid-19.” IMF, 23 June 2021,
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/06/21/na062121-5-things-to-know-about-
thailands-economy-and-covid-19.
“Thailand's Inflation in March Highest in 13 Years, Likely to Increase.” Thai PBS World : The
Latest Thai News in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in Both
Thai and English. We Bring Thailand to the World,
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-inflation-in-march-highest-in-13-years-likely-to-
increase/.
“Housing Poverty in Thailand: Inequalities & Disasters.” Habitat for Humanity GB, 2 Aug.
2019, https://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/country/thailand/.
Thelwell, Kim. “5 Facts about Poverty in Thailand.” The Borgen Project, Kim Thelwell
Https://Borgenproject.org/Wp-Content/Uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.Jpg, 25
June 2020, https://borgenproject.org/facts-about-poverty-in-thailand/.