which enabled all
stakeholders in the society to participate in the national
development planning process. However, the Plan was
later revised, particularly with respect to its economic
targets and strategies, in order to cope with the problems
resulting from the crisis. The economic problems during
this critical period included insufficient international
reserves, the instability of the Thai baht, weakness in the
financial system, high levels of non-performing loans
(NPLs), high interest rates, high inflation, liquidity
shortage, large capital outflow, a dramatic contraction of
GDP, and a very high unemployment rate (NESDB
2003, 55). In late 1998, the proportion of NPLs rose to
47 percent of all credit in the financial system; interest
rates rose to around 19-20 percent annually; inflation
reached 9.2 percent; and the unemployment rate rose to
almost 5 percent.14 The financial crisis brought an abrupt
halt to Thailand’s decade of rapid growth. The economic