Thai household debt deeper than ever

[fft100]

Dont forget the tax cuts are the only on imported alcohol, which the average Thai never drinks.

I suspect that the increased consumption of imported alcohol and tobacco will mean the loss in tax revenue will be very low, or may even lead to an increase in tax revenue from that source. Wine consumption,.as opposed to beer, could see a substantial % increase.

I don't have any figures but think that the imported wine/beer market is very small compared to domestic beer consumption.

[buksida]

I would also imagine the tax cuts are for arrivals only at the airports. I doubt very much the price of wine or scotch will be slashed in half across the country.

[KhunLA]

Raising debt ceiling to GDP, guess that explains the weakening ฿ / $, even though USA deficit is also going through the roof / ceiling......AGAIN.

All a bit of a joke really, as it seems, most countries are technically bankrupt. Just don't say it out loud. Then they could default on the interest payments, and Central Banking would have to foreclose, and the billionaires' income would come to a grinding halt.

Better raise them taxes some more ... Got off that hamster wheel 20+ yrs ago, and been a blight on society ever since.

[buksida]

How High Debt & Living Costs Are Leading Thailand Towards A Population Crisis
Thailand has been going through a population crisis. The reason? Rising household debt and education costs, coupled with a lack of elderly care have been driving Thai people away from the idea of having children.

Household debt has grown to nearly 90% of GDP, up from 59% in 2010, Bank of Thailand data showed, as per The Guardian.

Even political instability (including two military coups and large anti-government protests in the past two decades) is believed to be amongst the major factors determining Thai people’s attitudes towards not having children.

Lowest Birth Rate In 60 Years
The birth rate has seen a slump, which is evident from the number of births dropping to just 544,000 last year, the lowest in at least sixty years.

And that's not all. The number of deaths last year were 563,000, much higher than the births, due to Covid related fatalities, as per a report by Reuters. That implies, Thailand overall lost more people than it added in 2021.

Full story: https://www.indiatimes.com/worth/news/h ... 63845.html

More: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-03-07/


Not sure how a decreasing population is seen as a bad thing, though an aging one would be!

[handdrummer]

Not sure how a decreasing population is seen as a bad thing, though an aging one would be!

It lowers the tax base, decreases the workforce, increases the aging population, adds a financial burden to the younger workers, stifles innovation (that may not apply to Thailand.).

[buksida]

Very little of that applies to Thailand since a small minority of the population pays income tax, there doesn't seem to be much work done with all the holidays, and migrants make up a huge chunk of the workforce, and innovation here is pretty much a joke (try using a Thai app)!

The financial burden seems to be the only detrimental thing for the younguns - but they all want new iPhones and fancy cars on credit so a lot of that is down to lifestyle choices.

[handdrummer]

I can't find any statistics for the percentage of Thais who pay income tax.
Even with the number of holidays, there is still a large percentage of well-paid factory workers and they pay income tax. I don't know how much.
I certainly agree about innovation.
Even if they don't buy "fancy" cars on credit, it's still expensive to buy a car and iPhones and credit is hard to get.
Population decrease is happening in many countries, including the US.
If I were of the age to procreate, I wouldn't. This is not a world into which I would like to bring children.

[caller]

I can't find any statistics for the percentage of Thais who pay income tax.
Even with the number of holidays, there is still a large percentage of well-paid factory workers and they pay income tax.

Factory workers well paid? I thought it was one 'hub' the Thai's succeed at - a hub of low pay.

Approx. 15% of Thai workers pay income tax. My other half is one of them.

[handdrummer]

Thailand Average Salary Income - Job Comparison
Search domain worldsalaries.orgwww.worldsalaries.org › thailand.shtml
46,218. 4,509. 51,354. constant 2005 US$ at PPP. current bahts. (1) Based on gross employment average income and non-consumption expenditure per worker. (2) Based on salary & business average income per capita and proportion of workforce to total population.

[caller]

Well, I checked the Thai accountants and that's way too high for the average Thai female accountant. At least in the private sector.

Source: My other half who manages loads of them for her company. At one time this included Hua Hin, but is now mainly based on Bangkok and Korat.

So I don't believe the factory figures either. The massive Seagate factory in Korat used to pay the minimum wage. The huge Dole factory west of Hua Hin also pays a really poor salary, even for supervisors. Of course, there are factories and then there are factories.

[Dannie Boy]

Probably the only factories paying higher salaries are the car manufacturers?

[buksida]

Factory workers get paid peanuts. The bottom line is that they're all in epic debt (hence thread title), and inflation is battering most people here (yes, I know it's going on everywhere else but this is a Thailand forum). The 1% that owns 98% doesn't care though, and they'll be swanning around in their fancy SUVs for Songkran.

[buksida]

Household debt hits highs following pandemic woes
Thailand’s household debt reached 90 per cent of the GDP in 2021 while non-performing loans (NPL) increased by 2.3 million accounts since the Covid-19 pandemic began, new researched showed this week.

The government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said in 2017 that it would work to eradicate poverty by 2018, however, not only has the number of welfare cardholders increased from six million in 2016 to nearly 14 million in 2021, the level of household debt also increased from 79.4 per cent of the GDP in 2016 to 90.1 per cent in 2021 with a total value of 14.58 trillion baht.


According to Kasikorn Research Center (KResearch)’s latest survey released last Friday, the top debt was concentrated in three areas including house loans (34.5 per cent of the participants), business loans (18.1 per cent), and car or motorbike loans (12.4 per cent).

People are also taking in more personal loans and credit card debt which now accounts for eight per cent of household debt compared to seven percent in 2019 (pre-pandemic).

Despite the increase in the average income of a household from around 26,018 baht per month in 2019 to 27,352 baht per month in 2021, a household still spends an average of 21,616 baht per month or 79 per cent of their income for monthly expenses which means there is little left for paying the loan, savings or investment.

Full Story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/39149/hous ... emic-woes/

[handdrummer]

The banks have to take some responsibility for that. 12% home loans are untenable. They could charge 6% and still make a profit by not having so many defaults, or do the banks like owning property and having to try to resell it?

[buksida]

Yep, the banks practically encourage Thais to get into debt ... and then there are those loan sharks, many of which are partially involved with the esteemed law enforcement here.