Thailand - Recent economic and financial developments

Fff!' en lv R E S T R I C T E D Report No. A.S. 31-c This document was prepared for internal use in the Bank. In making it available to others. the Bank assumes no responsibility to them for I the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein. INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT fl ' .ft *m ~. at a . . .wY.n _ ,, n.r~a= - RECNT ECONVOM1 C- ANi- FINiANCILa DE^VELO- PMENTS> IN T HAILAND July 28, 1955 Department of Operations Asia and Middle East  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS UNIT BAHT OFFICIAL RATE U.S. $1 = Baht 12.5 Rah,t I1 U.S. $0.08 Baht 1,000,000 - U.S. $80,000 FR ARKET DAD'TE (end of February 1955) U.S. $1 Baht 20.47 Baht I . U.S. $0.049 Baht 1,000,000 U U.S. $49,000  TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Paragraphs Basic Data ii - iii Summary iv - v Economic Background 1 1 - Post-war Developments 2 - 5 5 - 11 The Position in 1954 5 - 7 12 - 20 The 1955 Budget 7- 8 21 - 23 Prosnects for the Futmre 9 - 11 2L - 32 Statis~tical Tabl es 12 _ 29 1. Forein Trade 1950' -513 2. U.S. Trade With Thailand 1950 - 54 14 3.* Estimated Balance of Paym.ents 1950 - 54 15 . Gold and F'oreign Exch-Aange IHToldings of Bank of Thailand 16 5. Vverngment R~ever,ues and Expenditures 1950-55 17 U. iain Categor-ies of GoverUT-ment Investment Expenditure 1952-55 18 7. Revi seu Estimate oI Treasury Cash Position in 1953 19 8. Preliminary Estimate of Treasury Cash Position in 1954 20 - 21 9. Estimated Cash Position of Treasury in 1955 22 - 23 10. Government Borrowing from Bank of Thailand and Profits on Bank's Foreign F;xchange Sales 24 11. I'ote Issue and Money Supply, 1950 - 54 25 12. Note Circulation and Factors Affecting Its Variations 26 13. Wholesale Price and Cost of Living Indices 27 14. Summary of External National and Government-Guaranteed Debt as of December 31, 1954 28 15. Estimated Contractual Interest and Amortization Payments on the External National and Government- Guaranteed Debt as of December 31, 1954 29  - ii - THAILAND BASIC DATA Area - 200,781 sq. miles Population (1954 estimate) - 20.15 million 1954 T - -. - -1 ' ..Mv so in thousands of metric tons) nn in, Rubber 112 Ti,n concentrates 13 Maldai'ce of Pa-viLL,ents on .Ln A nLt (Estimates in millions of U.S. dollars) -r__ l_17 nO 7 -_AxpOI'bs f..U.b. of v. Imports c.i.f. 313! irade Baiance let movement of non-monetcary gold -16.9 Net services -16.6 ]rTet donations - 0.5 Total -76.7 Government lYevenues and Expenditures (in millions of bahts) Eevenues 4,241 Expenditures 5,191 Deficit -950 Public Debt (Outstanding December 31, 1954) Internal Bonds # 508.0 million Currency Reserve Loan g 1,200.0 Treasury Bills p 3,691.3 Overdraft from Bank of Thailand V 863.1 Y 6,262.4 million External (including guarantee) U.S. dollars . 42.8 million Sterling T 4.6 Swiss Francs SwF 3.8 Payable in goods $ 5.5 " Total $ 62.0 million Total in bahts equivalent V 7,750.0 million  Gold and Foreign Exchange Held Dec. 1954 by Bank of Thailand (in millions of U.S. dollars) Gold 113.0 U.S. dollars 112.6 Free sterling 32.5 Other 5-7 Total 263.8 i4onev Sunplv (in millions of bahts) Currency 4'54 Demand deposits 1,510 Total 6;OS8 1 Q9I, Price Indices (1948 = 100) Chst orlesa pice 99 Wholesale prices 99  - i v - C ?T? /r1An