Over the past few years, manufacturers have invested heavily in machineries and systems to increase utilization of automation as evidenced by increasing robot installations in Thai factories4. Firms in non-manufacturing sector are also moving fast in adopting new technologies—from banks and telcos offering more efficient digital financial services; shops abandoning physical storefront and employing e-commerce and social-commerce platforms; and to firms advertising through social media platforms. To encourage further technological adoption and improve adaptive capabilities, to ultimately build resilience, it is also important that regulatory environment is conducive to fostering innovations. And it is with this goal of facilitating innovative environment that the Bank of Thailand took on a number of initiatives in recent years. These include  Continuing regulatory reform on foreign exchange regulations to remove outdated requirements, allow for greater flexibility in foreign exchange management, and improve ease of doing business;  Relaxing money transfer business ownership requirements to allow for greater competition and reduce cost of cross-border money transfer;  Streamlining our regulatory sandbox scheme to allow new fintech products to reach market faster;  Collaborating with the banking industry to explore use of central bank digital currency for domestic wholesale banking settlement operations; and  3 For instance, Thailand is ranked top ten in number of Facebook users according to Statista (2019). https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/  4 According to International Federation of Robotics, Thailand’s robot sales increased by over 30 percent between 2015 and 2017 and are expected to grow at an annual average of more than 20 percent over the next three years.

However, the impetus for take-off inevitably had to come from outside. Our economic problems were, and still are, neither confined to a sector nor a region. The line separating positive and negative developments runs right across the economic landscape. It is still quality of performance, characterised by innovation, flexibility and productivity, which determines success. Consolidating public finances remains important. Furthermore, efforts to promote competition must continue even though considerable progress has already been made. In this context, we have to realize that in many quarters, people are obviously sceptical about the concept of competition. The argument has not yet sunk in sufficiently that when it comes to allocating resources, the free play of market forces is well suited to achieve prosperity and economic welfare. This, however, is only possible within a framework of general economic stability. One of the most gratifying recent developments is a steady decline of unemployment. Since imbalances in the labour market continue to exist, we must foster both know-how and motivation. Sufficiently flexible working conditions and greater mobility are also essential. Finally, it is important to remember that securing the right macroeconomic environment and its exploitation by people participating in the economy is an ongoing challenge. Consequently, there are no quick, simple or cheap solutions for the problems confronting us. Monetary policy The Swiss National Bank has the task of conducting a monetary policy in the interests of the country as a whole.