Thailand is an upper-middle income economy according to the World Bank. Its 2024 GDP of $529 billion accounts for 13% of the regional GDP of Southeast Asia. With a population of 71.67 million, Thailand’s GDP per capita is $7,387, the fourth-highest in the region.
From 2015 to 2024, 11,480 aid and development projects were implemented in Thailand by 73 development partners, totalling $11 billion in official development finance (ODF).
Key trends
ODF disbursements including grants, loans, and other forms of assistance to Thailand have decreased since a 2021 peak due to pandemic-related support. In 2024, ODF to Thailand dropped by 5%.
ODF has fluctuated relative to Thailand’s economy but has always stayed below 1% of GDP: it averaged 0.23% from 2015–20, peaked at 0.5% in 2021, then fell to 0.1% in 2024. Thailand’s 2024 ODF to GDP ratio is the third-lowest in the region. ODF is most often disbursed in Thailand through non-concessional loans (50%), with concessional loans and grants at 25% each.
New commitments to Thailand rebounded to $1.6 billion in 2024, up from $878.3 million in 2023. This increase came largely from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) commitments to expand the U-Tapao International Airport and an ADB-financed solar and battery storage project.
- Spent
- Committed
Development partners
Thailand’s primary development partners are the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan, and China, which combined account for almost three-quarters of Thailand’s ODF from 2015 to 2024.
China’s ODF to Thailand has decreased dramatically since 2019, steepening in 2024 with a 99.8% drop from 2023 to just $175,000, spent on a Confucius Institute project. China’s ODF to Thailand is primarily disbursed through non-concessional loans (98%).
The ADB has significantly increased its support to Thailand over the reporting period, with two exceptional years. In 2021, it provided $2.1 billion (a 577% increase from 2020), mostly for pandemic response packages. And in 2024, it provided $269.6 million (a 348% increase from 2023), largely for expanding access to formal credit for rural women and agribusiness, and for electric tuktuk and battery projects. Overall, the ADB targets the government and civil society sector in Thailand, followed by the energy and transport and storage sectors, and disburses ODF almost entirely through non-concessional loans.
Japan’s ODF to Thailand has been largely stable but fell by 75% in 2024, mostly due to the end of loans for a phase of a Bangkok mass transit system project. Japan focuses heavily on the transport and storage sector in Thailand, and disburses secondary-level support to the government and civil society sector. Japan’s ODF is delivered predominantly through concessional loans.
Sectors
Compared to regional averages, Thailand receives a far greater proportion of ODF to the transport and storage and government and civil society sectors. In line with other upper-middle income economies, it receives less than the regional average in the water and sanitation, health, education, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors.
Transport and storage accounts for 26% of total ODF to Thailand from 2015 to 2024, and more than three-quarters of that is attributable to a large-scale rail project in the Bangkok metropolitan area.
- Thailand
- Regional average
Policy goals
The Southeast Asia Aid Map tracks ODF with integrated policy goals across three policy domains or cross-cutting themes (as distinct from sectors): climate action, gender equality, and disability inclusion.
Over 2015–24, 7% of Thailand’s ODF was directed to disability inclusion, below the regional average. Its shares incorporating climate action (56%) and gender equality (33%) were above the average, the former due in part to large-scale transit system projects.
Provision of intra-regional ODF
Thailand is Southeast Asia’s largest provider of intra-regional ODF, contributing an average of $71 million per year from 2015 to 2022. Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia are the primary recipients of this support, though Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and regional initiatives have also received funding. Thailand contributes to multiple sectors, but primarily transport and storage.
The Southeast Asia Aid Map was unable to confirm Thailand’s provision of bilateral intra-regional ODF in 2023, with incomplete data recorded despite Thailand’s commendable history of voluntarily reporting its activities to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in previous years.
In 2024, Thailand provided $33.8 million in intra-regional ODF, primarily to Laos and Cambodia for transport and education projects.