Thailand scored 9.3 points in the index.

Having suffered a setback between 1978 and 1998, Thailand's economy started to recover in 1999, expanding 4.2% and 4.4% in 2000, largely because of strong exports.

The country's growth was dampened by the softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent years.

Thailand exports a wide range of products -- rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber, jewellery, automobiles, computers and electrical appliances.

Thailand is the world’s top exporter of rice, exporting more than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually.

Rice is the most important crop in the country.

Thailand has the highest percent of arable land.

Image: Pro-government supporters wearing red t-shirts gather at the Thunder Dome of Muang Thong Thani in Bangkok on October 11, 2008. | Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: These Wall St bosses took home over $1 bn!

Back

Next