GDP growth: 1.5%

GDP per head: $27,500 (PPP: $57,480)

Inflation: 0.2%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 0.9

Population: 23.6m

The president, Tsai Ing-wen, and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured a
second term in 2020. The DPP’s victory came with a reduced majority, but the
defections were mainly to sympathetic parties, so its legislative advantage will be only
slightly eroded. Policy will focus on benefits and house-building to tackle inter-
generational inequality, infrastructure investment and promoting next-gen information
technology and renewable energy. A decisive response to covid-19 minimised both
public-health and economic impacts, and activity will rally.

TO WATCH: Word play. The 13th English as a Lingua Franca conference (ELF13),
delayed from 2020 by covid-19, will take place in Tainan in the summer.

Thailand

GDP growth: 3.2%

GDP per head: $8,000 (PPP: $18,940)

Inflation: 1.1%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 5.1

Population: 70.0m