SPECIAL FEATURE
Aside from its indigenous shrink-
ing labor force, the Thailand De-
velopment Research Institute in-
dicated that healthcare costs
have shot up at a rate of 12% each
year over the past dozen years
making it the highest in Southeast
Asia. This will raise the burden on
the country’s universal healthcare
system and private sector.
These conditions reveal the ur-
gent need to reform its taxes to
support its national pension
schemes that ranked last among
54 countries surveyed by global
insurance company Allianz SE.
Indeed, the national pension is
liable to dry up within 15 years if
it is not revamped said Somchai
Jitsuchon, the Bank of Thailand’s
monetary policy committee mem-
ber. Perhaps this UN survey will
bring about change to the archa-
ic system that perhaps dates back
to the 1970s when Thailand still
had birth rates of 6.6 children per
family, or even 2.2 children per
family merely two decades later.
such as Sino-Thai Engineering &
Construction Pcl where 30% of
its 10,000 workers are foreigners.
Another way to generate addition-
al and reliable source of tax rev-
enue is to simply extend the
country’s official retirement age,
currently at 60, or grant special-
ists consultant positions after
retirement, since most people still
enjoy good health and remain
All is not dire for economic growth active for decades after retire-
despite its low birth rates as Thai- ment, allowing their experience
land’s open economy has long to be put to good use.
welcomed migrant workers who
make up 10% in the country’s
total work force. In fact, the pro-
portion of foreign workers tends
to be higher in larger companies,
Source: “Thailand Has a Developing Economy and a Big First World Problem”, Margo Towie, Jason Clenfield and
Hannah Dormido, July 25, 2019
SEPTEMBER 2019
PharMed & HealthCare 13