The junta that seized power in Thailand four months ago has used martial law and a crackdown on its critics to subdue the politically polarized country, the International New York Times reported. But it may have more difficulty handling a fragile economy. Household debt is at a record high in Thailand, exports are flat, the number of tourists is well below last year’s count and experts say low levels at dams across the country are foretelling a severe water shortage. The central bank predicts economic growth of 1.5 percent this year.

Thailand revealed plans Tuesday to provide $312 million in loans to help its financially strapped farmers, many of whom are in debt to loan sharks, in the latest step by the military junta to help boost the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Loan sharks, who charge as much as 60% in interest a year, have thrived amid growing household debt, which rose to 82.3% of gross domestic product this year. Economists are concerned Thailand's high household debt will reduce consumption, a major engine driving the country's economic growth.

Bankruptcy cases, both personal and commercial, have shown signs of rising due to the economic slowdown this year, the The Nation reported today. As of October, the Legal Execution Department had 264,232 cases with assets for sale valued at up to Bt3.47 trillion. In the last fiscal year ended September, the department succeeded in settling 25,717 cases by mediating between debtors and creditors and selling assets for Bt33.14 billion out of an estimated value of Bt33.23 billion. For this fiscal year, the department targets to clear at least 150,000 cases.

Thailand’s biggest bout of political unrest under the current government has increased economic risks, threatening to crimp a rebound from recession as protests damp local consumption and investment while weakening the currency. Gross domestic product will rise an average 3.6 percent this year, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 26 economists, lower than a forecast of 4 percent in August. GDP probably expanded last quarter from the previous three months after contracting in the first half of the year, a separate survey showed ahead of a report due Nov. 18.

Two Thai business tycoons, one a politically connected Chinese speaker, the other the son of a street vendor, have spent $27 billion on acquisitions in the past year, mainly abroad - more than all Thai firms spent overseas in the previous three years. The billionaires - 74-year-old Dhanin Chearavanont and Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, five years his junior - personify Thailand's bull market and Asia's frothy credit, feeding on fast, cheap loans bolstered by a surging local currency.

Last quarter, 7,221 Thai companies closed down, 27 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, when the worst floods in 70 years swamped most of the country, Bloomberg reported. The figure is also more than double the average of 3,000 in the previous nine years, according to data from the National Economic & Social Development Board. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government raised the daily minimum wage to 300 baht throughout the country last month, after a similar increase in April in seven provinces including Bangkok.

Thailand's government will today press the central bank chief to take on $35 billion of legacy debt from bank bailouts as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra looks for fiscal scope to finance flood defenses, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul meets with cabinet members in Bangkok over the proposal to shift the debt to the BOT's balance sheet.

Thailand's economy may shrink 3.7 percent this quarter following the worst flooding in almost 70 years, the government said, adding to the case for an interest- rate cut as early as next week, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Gross domestic product rose 3.5 percent in the three months through September from a year earlier, after climbing a revised 2.7 percent in the previous quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Board said in Bangkok today. It also forecast the contraction and lowered its estimate for 2011 growth to 1.5 percent, from as much as 4 percent earlier.

The United Arab Emirates central bank on Sunday said that it stood behind domestic and foreign banks operating in Dubai after last week’s announcement that Dubai World needed more time to pay back some of its $60 billion in debt, The New York Times reported. Dubai surprised the financial world on Wednesday when it said it would ask creditors of Dubai World, the conglomerate behind its rapid expansion, to agree to a six-month standstill on the debt. Global markets sank on the news.

General Motors Corp. reiterated Tuesday its operations in Thailand and Southeast Asia are unaffected by the bankruptcy filing in the U.S., Dow Jones Newswires reported. "GM Asia-Pacific, including GM Thailand and Asean, will be an important part of the New GM and will maintain normal business operations," Steve Carlisle, president of General Motors' Southeast Asia operations, told reporters. Read more. (Subscription required.)