Thailand

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US treaty ally following the conflict. A military coup in September 2006 ousted then Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat. The interim government held elections in December 2007 that saw the former pro-THAKSIN People's Power Party (PPP) emerge at the head of a coalition government. The anti-THAKSIN People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in May 2008 began street demonstrations against the new government, eventually occupying the prime minister's office in August and Bangkok's two international airports in November. The PAD ended their protests in early December 2008 following a court ruling that dissolved the ruling PPP and two other coalition parties for election violations. The Democrat Party then formed a new coalition government and ABHISIT Wetchachiwa became prime minister. In October 2008 THAKSIN went into voluntary exile to avoid imprisonment for a corruption conviction, and has since agitated his followers from abroad. THAKSIN supporters re-organized into the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) and rioted in April 2009, shutting down an ASEAN meeting in Phuket, and in early 2010 protested a court verdict confiscating most of THAKSIN's wealth. Since January 2004, thousands have been killed as separatists in Thailand's southern ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces increased the violence associated with their cause.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Baht (ISO code: THB)
* Central bank discount rate: 1.75% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.05% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $35.35 billion (31 December 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $283.6 billion (31 December 2009)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Thailand: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	122 630	122 725	115 536	126 877	142 640	161 340	176 352	207 228	247 111	272 429
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Thailand: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	28.874 	26.144 	27.330 	26.090 	24.467 	24.012
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Thailand: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	19.547 	19.615 	21.103 	20.059 	19.434 	20.128
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Thailand: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	 	 	 	15.858 	16.601 	16.441 	16.121 	17.611 	18.246
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	1.477 	1.333 	1.295 	1.301 	1.259 	1.193
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Thailand on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Thailand
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries