Thailand Pushes Competition Reform to Build Future Economy
Thailand's deputy prime minister called for competition reform as a national strategy to strengthen the economy, emphasizing that businesses must shift from competing on cost alone to competing on innovation, resilience, and value in an era
The Thai Trade Competition Commission held its international conference TCCT Competition Day 2026 at the Athenaeum Hotel in Bangkok under the theme "Transforming Thailand: Competition Landscape Reform for a Future-Ready Economy." Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthummaphand opened the event and delivered a keynote address on how competition reform can reshape Thailand's economy for the future.
Suthummaphand noted that the world is undergoing simultaneous change across multiple dimensions, including geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts, restructuring of global trade, digital technology, artificial intelligence, innovation, and environmental concerns, coupled with declining birth rates. These interconnected changes are altering global economic rules, requiring businesses to shift from competing solely on lowest cost to competing on stability, resilience, and reliability. Competition is moving from scale-based advantage to speed of learning and adaptation, and from selling just products and price to competing on value, innovation, standards, and trust.
With these changing global rules, both the public and private sectors must adapt quickly and work together to create an environment where efficiency and innovation can flourish. The foundation begins with Thailand's own domestic market, as a strong internal market forms the basis for Thai businesses to compete globally. Thailand currently has approximately 3.3 million SMEs, representing 99.5% of all businesses and generating roughly 34.8% of GDP. If capable SMEs are given the opportunity to compete fairly, they can grow and become new engines of the nation's economy.
For this reason, competition policy must be a national strategic pillar. Suthummaphand outlined three key transitions to build future competition. First is moving from solving problems after they occur to designing competition from the outset, using a "competition lens" to reduce state rules that act as market barriers. She praised the Trade Competition Commission for shifting from passive law enforcement to being a proactive regulator, preventing structural and behavioral issues that could harm competition before they arise.
Second is the transition from protecting businesses to protecting competitive opportunities, ensuring a level playing field not just to help small businesses survive but to open space for capable entrepreneurs to grow and innovate as new economic drivers. Third is moving from fragmented oversight to system-wide cooperation, linking work across government, business, academia, and the public, while expanding collaboration with ASEAN, OECD, and the World Bank to build a competitive ecosystem.
