Three days after the devastating bomb blast at the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s reshuffled cabinet was approved by the King. The bombing, which killed 20 people and injured scores more, had struck a big blow to the country’s tourism industry, which accounts for some 10 per cent of its GDP.

That day the National Economic and Social Development Board slashed its 2015 gross domestic production (GDP) growth forecast from 3-4 per cent this year to 2.7-3.2 per cent. The new cabinet appeared like a silver lining in the gloomy outlook.

… This article was written by Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. It was originally published on RSIS and reproduced here with their kind permission.