Ladies and gentlemen, Despite our progress, we should not settle for what we have achieved thus far. Much more can be done and need to be done to improve the sustainability of the Thai society as a number of challenges remain. Some of which leave us to question our collective actions as a society on how we allow these challenges to get out of hand. Allow me to highlight four challenges in particular: First, despite a more broad-based economic growth and a number of government policies targeting low income households, 2/6  Thailand remains among the world’s most unequal countries in terms of wealth, with the richest one percent owning more than half of total household wealth2. Meanwhile, low financial literacy and high household debt level continue to hamper the ability of individuals to pursue new opportunities and secure long-term financial security. These have curbed individual’s chance to improve her socio-economic status in the long-run. Essentially, widening wealth and income inequality is a major contributor to the fragility of the Thai society and is frequently used as an excuse to draw public support for a number of costly and unsustainable populist policies. Second, our labor productivity growth is moderating and should be emphasized. As an aging society with declining labor force, enhancing productivity is critical for the Thai economy to maintain growth. And yet a number of public policies have focused on creating short-term stimulus rather than on encouraging the necessary adjustments to address long-term productivity issue.

Moreover, our educational standards have not been able to prop up our low productivity level and lag behind in many important areas. Without the necessary adjustment now raises the question of how Thailand could maintain our competitiveness going forward. Third, we have been too negligent on environmental and ecological issues. As a large portion of the Thai population remains in the agricultural sector and all of whom rely on quality natural resources for food and income, preservation of environment and natural resources should be our top priority. Our irresponsible actions—from massive burning of fossil fuels to excessive use of plastic containers—contributed to the overall deterioration of the global environment. And, as we have observed, climate change has resulted in increasing frequency as well as severity of natural disasters. The painful experience of the great floods of 2011 should be a case in point, as these floods were the result of rampant deforestation, new developments blocking natural water ways, and clogged drainage system from careless waste disposal. 2  Credit Suisse. “Global Wealth Report.” 2017. 3/6  Many other environmental issues continue to highlight our negligence. These include a recent report detailing Thailand as the new dumping ground for global electronic wastes; or that certain toxic chemical banned in a number of countries around the world is still widely used by farmers in Thailand. Fourth, entrenched corruption remains a major obstacle to achieving long-term focus. Paying bribes and granting favors are harmful practices that incur unnecessary costs and create distortions in resource allocation.