Inflation declined between 1980 and 1984, remained at about five per cent from the mid-1980s to the mid1990s, and then surged and fell in the late 1990s before returning to the five per cent level in 2005. As suggested by the behaviour of inflation in the late 1990s, non-migrant factors are the major drivers of price changes, although migrants may play wage- and price-dampening roles in particular sectors, such as maintaining Thai garment production and exports in the face of increased competition from China and Vietnam and holding down costs of export commodities such as rubber and rice.