BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand needs to address productivity growth as its primary structural challenge to achieve sustainable economic expansion and reach high-income status by 2037, the World Bank said in a new report launched on Thursday. According to the flagship report titled “Building Thailand’s Future Today,” Marco Hernandez, Manager of Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment in East Asia and Pacific, World Bank noted that while Thailand successfully transformed its economy over the past three decades, its growth momentum has slowed.
The report highlights two core pillars to drive productivity growth: upgrading firm capabilities and fostering market dynamism. Upgrading focuses on strengthening workforce skills and adopting technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), which is currently used by only 12% of Thai firms. Dynamism involves creating an ecosystem that enables new businesses to enter the market on an equal footing and allows underperforming firms to exit quickly and cheaply, thereby stimulating innovation and competition.
The World Bank identified five future-oriented sectors with high potential to drive growth, upgrade skills, and create quality jobs: advanced manufacturing, digital services, creative industries, wellness tourism, and agribusiness. Hernandez emphasized that attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) must extend into higher value-added activities—such as leveraging data center investments into semiconductors and advanced electronics, as well as shifting tourism toward higher-value offerings.
To achieve its goal of becoming a high-income nation by 2037, Thailand will need to raise its annual GDP per capita growth to at least 5.4%, up from the current average of less than 3% per year. The World Bank expressed support for public-private collaboration through the Joint Public and Private Sector Consultative Committee for Economic Transformation to ensure policy implementation and monitoring. Thailand is also set to host the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings next month, providing a platform for the country to showcase its economic roadmap to the global community. (TNA)
