Speaking on behalf of the Thai people, I believe our history has played a big part in influencing our actions and our mindsets, allowing us to cope with new challenges. Specifically, Thailand’s long history as an open trading nation—having limited resources and military strength, and operating under the landscape of continued foreign threats—has implanted the mindsets of the Thai to be open-minded and receptive to new opportunities while flexible in our approach to adversities. It is with this mindset that has allowed our nation to adapt to changing environment and withstood various threats. Looking ahead, our resilience will certainly be tested by disruptive changes brought about by technological advancement. Thus far, the Thai people have shown that they are able to adapt and be receptive of new opportunities that have come with new technologies. This can be seen in the remarkable rate of adoption of the PromptPay faster-pay service since its launch just over two years ago, with now over 47 million subscribed accounts, a large number considering the total population of Thailand is just over 66 million. During that same period, usage of digital  7/9  payment almost doubled, reaffirming receptiveness of the Thai people to new payment channel. Moreover, the Thai population is digitally engaged, ranking among top countries with the highest number of social media users3. This has created opportunities for new platforms to emerge and innovations to prosper. Besides the people, increasing number of Thai businesses have incorporated new technologies into their work processes.
Recent history has shown that the Thai economy has the resilience to withstand adverse events and has  4/9  been quick to recover. Over the past ten years the economy has had to endure a number of shocks—externally, from the global financial crisis of 2009 to the beginning of quantitative tightening; and internally, from the domestic political turmoil throughout the decade, big flood of 2011, to the passing of His late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016. And yet, over the past decade the Thai economy grew on annual average of 3.3 percent; it registered positive current account surplus in eight of the last ten years; and the Thai Baht has been one of the most stable currencies in the region. The economy has been able to overcome these challenges, because it possesses a unique set of qualities, qualities that contribute to our resilience. These key qualities are macroeconomic stability, diversified growth engines, and ability to adapt to new challenges. Ladies and gentlemen, Having sound macroeconomic stability is important for an economy to ensure confidence and provide environment conducive to growth. It also acts as a critical buffer, especially for small open economy, against episodes of external shocks and capital flow volatility. The Thai economy possesses macroeconomic stability in at least four key areas: (1) Our external stability remains strong, with ample foreign reserves, covering 3.4 times short-term external debt.