The deputy managing director of Retaillink, a division of CP All that sells various types of equipment for retail stores, says sales during the first two quarters of this year contracted due to the political unrest, but it is confident the annual sales of retail store equipment will grow by 12 percent.

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Retaillink Predicts 12 % Annual Sale Increase

At the end of 2009, real GDP was back at pre-crisis levels, as measured in seasonally adjusted terms.
The continuation of certain government policies, especially the pension to the elderly and free education should also support higher consumption levels for the poor. The longer-term goal of reducing reliance on external demand will take time, especially given political uncertainties that hinder the government’s ability to implement not only its investment program but also needed structural reforms.

Alexander Wood, a founding partner of AWR Lloyd, believes the global crisis has acted as a catalyst for a fundamental, structural change in the global capital markets. The real new players in the markets are the sovereign wealth funds.
Thai valuations still trail the region considerably. Price-to-earnings multiples for the Thai market were 18.9 times for 2009, compared to, say, 25 to 30 times for the Australian, Japanese and Shanghai markets and valuations could be higher, if not for the political instability in Thailand over the past several years.
Introduction The modern Thai Capital Market traces its origins back to the early 1960s. In 1961 Thailand implemented its first five-year National Economic and Social Development Plan to support the promotion of economic growth and stability as well as to develop the Kingdom’s standard of living. Following upon this, the Second National Economic and Social Development Plan (1967-1971) then proposed for the first time that an orderly securities market be established in order to mobilize additional capital for national economic development.

The creation of Thailand’s first officially sanctioned and regulated securities market was initially proposed as part of the Second National Economic and Social Development Plan (1967-1971). In outlining its proposal for the creation of a supervised securities market, the Second National Development Plan stressed that the market’s most important role would be to mobilize funds to support Thailand’s industrialization and economic development.