Thailand 20260220

Mekong Memo Thailand Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.

Feb 20, 2026

Thai riverside village at sunrise on the Mekong with stilt houses and a boat on calm water.

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Headlines:

Shinawatras Get a Lifeline, Strings Attached

SET Pops the Champagne on Anutin's Coalition

Bangkok-Korat Bullet Train Clears the Halfway Mark

Two Percent and Smiling

Restaurant's Secret Menu Worth $1.6M

42,000 Fake Bags Walk So Real Ones Can Run

Cabinet Rolls Out the Welcome Mat, Forgets the Lease

Bangkok Dusts Off the Welcome Mat

Shinawatras Get a Lifeline, Strings Attached

Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's Bhumjaithai Party will form a coalition with Pheu Thai, both sides confirmed Friday, just eight months after Anutin walked out over a border dispute scandal. The deal keeps the Shinawatra political machine breathing after its worst showing this century: Pheu Thai limped to third place Sunday with party-list votes down more than half. Bhumjaithai rode a nationalist wave to its best result ever, campaigning on closed border crossings, a wall with Cambodia, and 100,000 volunteer soldiers after two rounds of deadly fighting last year that killed scores and has displaced about a million people. Thaksin Shinawatra is serving a one-year prison sentence for corruption, though an early release alongside a political agreement is expected. His nephew Yodchanan Wongsawat, a biomedical engineering professor, had been put forward as Pheu Thai's nominee for prime minister. The coalition now faces anemic growth, a tourism sector still below pre-Covid levels, and the immediate question of what to do about those border crossings, still shut since the December clashes. Pheu Thai held its first post-election meeting Friday to figure out what went wrong, with secretary-general Prasert Chantraruangthong promising the legal team will look into transparency complaints. The party also launched a new motto, "Keep Fighting for All Thais," which is either inspiring or worrying depending on how you read the need for reassurance.

Read more: Messenger-Inquirer, Bangkok Post

SET Pops the Champagne on Anutin's Coalition

The Stock Exchange of Thailand jumped 3.5% the day after Bhumjaithai's Feb 8 election victory, closing at 1,400.89 with 102 billion baht in turnover, the first time daily trading topped 100 billion in nearly three years (outside of special rebalancing days). Foreign investors were net buyers all week, pushing year-to-date inflows to 47.8 billion baht by Thursday, while the baht rose to 31.10/USD. The rally's size caught market watchers off guard, but the cabinet picks explain the enthusiasm better than the policy promises. Anutin Charnvirakul will return as PM backed by three technocrats, including Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the former Revenue chief, at Finance.

Bangkok-Korat Bullet Train Clears the Halfway Mark

Sixteen years after it was first proposed, Thailand's Chinese-built high-speed rail line to Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) is halfway done, with the State Railway of Thailand putting progress at 51.74%. Two of 14 construction contracts are done and 10 others are under way, though two more, covering the Bang Sue to Don Mueang and Ban Pho to Phra Kaeo sections, haven't even been signed yet. The 250-kilometer route comes with a 179 billion baht price tag, partly because most of the track is running elevated to avoid level crossings, but also because of two tunnels punching through Muak Lek and Lam Takhong. Commercial service is ~~expected~~ hoped for by for 2030. Phase 2 to Nong Khai on the Lao border has cabinet approval and could start bidding and contract signing this year. Acting SRT governor Anan Phonimdaeng told visiting senators that contractors have been told to stick to timelines, which for a project first floated in 2010 suggests that optimism remains a renewable resource.

Two Percent and Smiling

The Ministry of Finance is talking up 2% GDP growth for this year, a hair below the 2.2% forecast for 2025 but the flaccid number is being framed as cause for optimism. Director-General Vinit Visessuvanapoom pointed to 35.5 million expected tourists and 1% export growth as engines that will keep things humming, while private investment in tech and manufacturing is expected to pick up the slack that’s resulting from sluggish global trade. Buried in the forecast are warnings about household and SME debt choking consumer spending and investment recovery, the kind of structural fragility matters more than visitor arrival numbers when things get bumpy. Political stability and quick budget execution got flagged as essential, a polite nod to the risk that both could see… challenges… after the election.

Restaurant's Secret Menu Worth $1.6M

Police arrested Israeli national Shay Alfasi, 42, in an undercover sting on Koh Phangan for allegedly running a drug trafficking network from his restaurant and bar, Lola, in the Hat Hin Kong area. Officers took over 50 million baht (roughly $1.6 million) in drugs. Sales were reportedly handled via WhatsApp. The arrest is part of a sweep of dealers on the island, and Alfasi is the biggest fish so far.

42,000 Fake Bags Walk So Real Ones Can Run

Thai customs pulled in 42,451 counterfeit luxury goods worth 223 million baht between January 13 and February 6, mostly Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci, Prada and Balenciaga bags, shoes, watches and perfumes, as well as some with automotive parts and solar lamps. The haul came from joint operations with the Department of Intellectual Property and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute. Since October 1, authorities say they’ve processed 38 trademark and copyright cases that they claim are worth more than 885 million baht.

Cabinet Rolls Out the Welcome Mat, Forgets the Lease

Thailand's Cabinet signed off on a three-phase visa overhaul giving 93 countries visa-free entry for 60 days and consolidating Non-Immigrant categories from 17 down to 7. The package includes a Destination Thailand Visa for remote workers and e-Visa processing at 94 embassies worldwide. But the legal framework hasn't changed: every category, including the so-called Long Stay visa for retirees, is still a Non-Immigrant permit that requires periodic renewal at the state’s discretion. What's missing isn't longer stays but actual residency status, the kind of legal certainty that lets foreigners commit capital, structure businesses, or plan retirements without wondering if next year's renewal will get denied. Competitors in the region are offering both longer stamps and certainty about a pathway to stay.

Bangkok Dusts Off the Welcome Mat

The IMF and World Bank will return to Bangkok's Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in October, 35 years after the original venue was rushed up in 18 months to host the same meetings in 1991. That first gathering required midnight military approval for helicopter transfers from Don Muang, at a time when road trips to the hotel could take four hours. The new QSNCC is bigger, shinier, and ready to handle the more than 30,000 delegates without the drama seen the first time around.

The Mekong Memo

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?