Insights

Bangkok, Thailand, November 2025 – Business sentiment in Thailand has improved slightly but remains far weaker than in neighbouring economies. The latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) for Q3 2025 shows that optimism among mid-market businesses has risen modestly since the previous quarter, yet continues to trail ASEAN and global averages. Limited confidence and cautious investment are leaving Thailand behind its regional peers as growth slows and competitiveness weakens.

Thailand’s Business Confidence Falls Sharply Amid Rising Pressures and Global Headwinds Q2 2025 Grant Thornton IBR shows slowing optimism and investment intentions across the mid-market Bangkok, Thailand, July 2025 – Business confidence among Thailand’s mid-market firms continued to decline in Q2 2025, with reduced expectations across revenue, exports, and employment – despite solid GDP growth and an impressive export performance in the first quarter. The second half of the year is going to be much more challenging with GDP growth continuing to fall. According to the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), conducted between 16 April and 29 June 2025, Thai mid-market businesses are navigating a more uncertain economic landscape. The percentage of leaders “very confident” in economic improvement dropped sharply to 19%, down from 31% in Q1. A plurality of respondents (36%) are now “unsure,” while 17% report having no confidence at all.

Mid-market optimism falls as tariff threats become reality

Thailand’s mid-market businesses are facing increasing pressure as business confidence drops sharply, with investment in technology, workforce development, and productivity failing to keep pace with ASEAN peers. This trend, highlighted in the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) for Q4 2024, raises concerns about the country’s long-term competitiveness in an evolving regional landscape.

Thailand’s economy has demonstrated positive growth in the first half of 2024, yet the country continues to lag behind its ASEAN neighbours. As mid-market leaders weigh the impacts of global uncertainty, concerns over long-term investments in skills and technology are being raised, according to the latest findings from Grant Thornton's International Business Report (IBR) for Q3 2024.

The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) for Q2 2024 reveals a nuanced outlook among Thailand's mid-market business leaders. With a Business Health Index score of 16.3, Thailand continues to outperform its ASEAN, Asia-Pacific, and global peers. However, underlying economic concerns tell a different story and highlight the need for strategic vigilance.

The new H1 2023 IBR is especially significant, as it indicates a clear expectation among business leaders of full-throated, post-pandemic growth across industries — a long-awaited development that had been delayed repeatedly in recent years amid geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine and the downturn of China, as well as new waves of infections.

Progress on women in senior leadership stalling

Grant Thornton in Thailand summarises and analyses the International Business Report for H2-2021 on a global, Asia-Pacific, and Thailand level.

Grant Thornton’s upcoming International Business Report (IBR) will be the most consequential report of its kind in recent memory. As the world's leading mid-market business survey, the IBR acts as a barometer for the private sector, reflecting the current business outlook as it appears from the inside. With widespread vaccine distribution allowing much of the world to finally reach the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, the coming IBR will sketch the first complete picture of what the landscape looks like on the other side.

Thailand’s business leaders once again show modest, but increasing, levels of business confidence when compared with their counterparts across APAC and around the world, according to Grant Thornton’s global research for H2 2020. The study also reveals especially high levels of economic uncertainty, along with the widespread belief that the Thai government could play a greater role in the country’s economic recovery moving forward.

Grant Thornton’s global research reveals that the business confidence among company leaders in APAC stands at 62%, a remarkably high total for a region that has been badly affected by the slowdown in international travel. This total is 6 percentage points higher than in H2 2019, and a full 15 percentage points above H1 2020 levels. The high level of confidence is especially notable because the same group of respondents also predicted a worsening of several key business constraints over the coming 12-month period.

H2 2020 brought significant improvements in business confidence around the world, according to Grant Thornton’s global research. The change includes a 14% rise in global business confidence over the corresponding H1 2020 totals, alongside double-digit increases in several related categories. Survey respondents from across the business world likewise indicated their intention to increase investment across multiple areas over the next 12 months.

As a new and unpredictable decade dawns, the business world looks forward with its optimism largely intact, according to Grant Thornton’s latest International Business Report (IBR). Leaders in mid-market companies around the world delivered an average optimism score of 59% in H2 2019, a rise of 3% over the first half of the year. This modest improvement is an encouraging contrast to the two consecutive declines that preceded it, although there remains a long way to climb before reaching H1 2018’s high of 69% global optimism.

Grant Thornton’s 2020 Women in Business report outlines how the Blueprint for Action is bring used to bring more women into global business leadership.

As a new and unpredictable decade dawns, the business world looks forward with its optimism largely intact, according to Grant Thornton’s latest International Business Report (IBR). Leaders in mid-market companies around the world delivered an average optimism score of 59% in H2 2019, a rise of 3% over the first half of the year. This modest improvement is an encouraging contrast to the two consecutive declines that preceded it, although there remains a long way to climb before reaching H1 2018’s high of 69% global optimism.