September 19, 2006

Military Coup in Thailand

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Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok amid reports of a coup attempt. (Tanks were seen surrounding Government House in Bangkok.) His problem–or perhaps his good fortune–is that he’s at the UN right now. Details are murky but Reuters is reporting that the armed forces and police has set up a commission to decide on political reforms. Thaksin has been accused of undermining democracy. Word is that elections would be called soon and Thaksin will be allowed to take part. No doubt the Council on Foreign Relations will put up something helpful soon to make sense of the background to all this…

One early upshot of the reported coup: emerging sovereign bonds (Thailand has $2.1 billion in debt) “eased slightly” on the news.

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