ABSTRACT

Economic growth in Thailand has been marked by the growing dominance of the manufacturing sector. In the 1960s, manufacturing was dominated by import substituting industries, geared toward the domestic market. As the domestic market expanded by the early 1970s, the country pursued an outward-oriented development strategy, which contributed significantly, to the growth in exportoriented industries, and finance, insurance and the real estate (FIRE) sector. The share of agriculture, in both GDP and exports declined substantially since the 1970s.