Thailand 20260515
Mekong Memo Thailand Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.
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.
Anutin Goes Beach-Combing for Nominees
A ministerial walkabout on Freedom Beach and Koh Phangan put a bit of a spotlight on what locals say they’ve been living with for years. Of 3,754 registered companies on Koh Phangan, 2,381 involve foreign shareholders. More than three dozen land title deeds worth more than 150 million baht have been seized. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who also serves as interior minister, saw the alleged indiscretions with his own eyes and returned to Bangkok with orders for the Department of Provincial Administration's director-general to run financial checks on local officials and police in Phuket and Surat Thani through AMLO (the anti-money laundering body). Phuket's courts aren't waiting either. "Sia Lek," a 51-year-old accused of encroaching on more than 10 rai (a “rai” is 1600 square meters) of protected forest at Freedom Beach, was denied bail Thursday and sent straight to Phuket Provincial Prison, with the court remarking that he might intimidate the villagers who first took their complaints to Anutin.
Read more: Bangkok Post (nominee company counts), Bangkok Post (Sia Lek bail)
Sixty Days Was Too Generous, Apparently
Cabinet approval is expected next week for a policy halving visa-free stays from 60 to 30 days for citizens of 93 countries, less than two years after Thailand introduced the 60-day window to try and revive post-pandemic tourism. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Foreign Ministry are both on board. Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkaeow said plainly: "sixty days is probably too long for a tourist visa." The official rationale is that the change is needed because of illegal workers, nominee-run businesses, and what officials are calling criminal misuse. Countries whose passport holders have seen high numbers of violations might get their visa-free stays trimmed to 15 days. The government's numbers show that more than 90% of visitors already leave within 30 days, so the extended window was doing its heaviest lifting for exactly the folks that officials now want to screen out. Tourist arrivals from January 1 through May 10 were 12.4 million, down 3.43% compared with the same stretch last year.
Read more: The Thaiger (DTV income proof), Times of India (funds requirement), Independent (nominee business arrests), Travel and Tour World (timeline)
Iran Conflict Breaks Thailand's Run
The Bank of Thailand cut its benchmark rate to a historic low of 1.00% on February 25 and cut its 2026 growth forecast to a feeble 1.5% as the Iran conflict puts icing on the household debt and shaky consumer confidence cake. Q1 GDP was 2.2% year-on-year but barely moved quarter-on-quarter (+0.1%). Gulf tourist arrivals went to near zero by March. Malaysian arrivals dried up too, as fuel costs made the drive north not worth the trouble. Businesses are getting antsy. A BOT survey found most large companies plan price increases of up to 20%; transport costs and airline tickets are already on the move. Exports are a rare bright spot, up 18.7% in March to $35.16 billion, the 21st straight month of growth.
Read more: Bangkok Post (inflation trajectory), The Thaiger (emergency borrowing boost), TradingView (Q2 forecast), Yahoo (Reuters poll range)
Thaksin Walks
Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, walked out of Klong Prem at 7:40am Monday looking sharp in a white shirt and close-cropped hair (and not decked out in prison tattoos as some social media showed), where he was greeted by hundreds of supporters. He's being forced to wear an ankle monitor for the rest of his parole. The warm welcome was arguably the last uncomplicated thing about his return. Pheu Thai has since slid to third place in its worst election showing on record, and his daughter Paetongtarn was sacked as prime minister by court order last August, weeks before he was sent to the pokey. Asked by reporters about his time inside, Thaksin said he'd been "in hibernation" and couldn't remember anything.
Read more: BBC (comeback prospects), Al Jazeera (sentence commutation)
Lordy, Lordy, Who’s Not Forty?
Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, who turns 39 on May 18, was appointed opposition leader by Royal Command on Thursday, the youngest person to hold the role in Thai history. His People's Party won 120 seats in the February 28 election, behind Anutin Charnvirakul's Bhumjaithai with 191, and he now anchors a 207-MP opposition bloc against the ruling coalition's 293. He says that Friday's parliamentary session will be the opening move toward constitutional amendments and other long-stalled bills.
Read more: Bangkok Post
Cheap Money Keeps Bangkok Inside the Lines
The Finance Ministry believes that falling interest rates have kept the government's interest-to-revenue ratio at 10.2%, safely below the 12% line that rating agencies normally start asking uncomfortable questions at. The Thai Overnight Repurchase Rate is 1.1-1.2% after spreads, and the government's average cost of money across its entire debt portfolio is 2.66%. The first tranche under the 400-billion-baht emergency decree, up to 220 billion baht, will begin as 3-5 year loans before rolling into bonds with 15-30 year maturities, keeping public debt at about 68% of GDP this fiscal year and 69% in 2027, still below the 70% ceiling. MPs unconvinced of the wisdom of it all have petitioned the Constitutional Court by claiming the decree fails the economic-security necessity test under Section 172.
Read more: Bangkok Post
Thai Parts Makers Want the Drawbridge Up
Ten automotive associations are making a proposal to the Finance and Industry ministries that would add a 32% import duty on Chinese EVs. They currently arrive with no tariff under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement. They also want local content requirements raised from 40% to 80%, a figure that would make life considerably harder for Chinese brands that assemble vehicles in the Kingdom.
Read more: Bangkok Post
Hormuz Hangover Hits the Cockpit
Thai low-cost carriers have cut pilot flight hours 10% since April and reduced allowances by up to 30%, as jet fuel prices are up to 81% higher than they were last year at this time. One Don Mueang-based carrier dropped productivity pay by 30%, forcing pilots fly the same hours for less money. Others have started splitting monthly paychecks into two installments to manage cash flow. More than 1,000 licensed pilots are currently idle in the Thai market, though no airline has resorted to pandemic-era style furloughs yet.
Read more: Bangkok Post
Divers Surface to Sink the Land Bridge
Koh Tao island alone certifies an astonishing 50,000 divers a year and pulls in 10 billion baht in local revenue, which makes the "Divers Against Land Bridge" campaign, launched by marine conservation network Digitalay, a story to watch. The proposed megaproject would drive two deep-sea ports through waters the government has yet to map publicly, and construction sedimentation is one of the fastest ways to kill a coral reef. Richelieu Rock keeps coming up in the objections. PADI ranks Thailand among the world's top dive destinations.
Read more: Bangkok Post
Saab Starts Bending Metal, Thailand Waits Until 2029
Air Chief Marshal Seksan Kantha led a Royal Thai Air Force delegation to Saab's Linköping plant on May 13, where assembly has started on the first Gripen E ordered under last August's 19.5 billion baht contract. Four jets are expected to be delivered starting in 2029, and a second order (not delivery) of four is expected to come in 2028 as Thailand builds toward an eventual squadron of 12. The new birds will replace aging F-16A/Bs at Wing 1 in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), not the 11 older Gripen C/Ds already flying out of Surat Thani. The F-16s in question have been busy recently, patrolling the Myanmar border.
Read more: Airdatanews
Bangkok Brings Cash to Cannes, Netflix Brings Receipts
Thailand showed up at the 79th Cannes Film Festival with two official selections, 9 Temples to Heaven in Directors' Fortnight and What Do You Seek in the Dark? in Critics' Week. The moment is being used to introduce a 20% cash rebate for foreign companies that hire Thai digital content producers on contracts worth at least 5 million baht for animation, visual effects, games and post-production. Netflix’s performance has been indicative of the private-sector opportunity. They’ve dropped more than $200 million in local content between 2021 and 2024, to produce more than 20 original films and series, and created 13,500 local jobs. As of January 2026, 34 Thai titles have appeared in Netflix's global top-10 non-English rankings, generating more than 750 million viewing hours.
Read more: Bangkok Post (20% rebate), Bangkok Post (tourism spillover)
A Seat at Anutin's Table For the Bigwigs
Anutin Charnvirakul will host this government's first formal private-sector dialogue later today under the banner "Entrepreneurs Speak, Government Listens," with CP Group, Thai Beverage, Central Group, Gulf Development, Betagro, Bangchak and Saha Pathanapibul among those presenting proposals directly to the PM. Ten sectors are sending representatives, from banking and energy to hotels and tech.
Read more: Bangkok Post
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.