Newly appointed Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira has vowed to expedite efforts to deal with household debt, revive the economy and increase individuals' income.
On his first day at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday, Mr Pichai, a former chairman of the Stock Exchange of Thailand and advisor to the prime minister, said over the past 20 years, the country's economic growth rate has consistently declined.
From expansion of 4-5%, the economic growth rates have decreased to 3%, 2% or 1%, every five years shrinking by one percentage point, he said.
"When the GDP of a country declines, it means people's income decreases," said Mr Pichai.
"Even though inflation may be low, people's income is increasing slower than inflation."
He said with household debt exceeding 90% of GDP, people can't afford to borrow regardless of the interest rate.
The quickest way to address this problem is to inject more money into the economy, said Mr Pichai.
However, this injection should not be seen as benefiting wealthy business owners, as many parts of the economy are interconnected, he said.
"The reason Thailand's economic growth has slid in recent years may be because we mainly produce goods for export," said Mr Pichai.
"Production costs have likely risen, while new technologies need to be adopted to replace Thai products that still rely on old technologies."
He said improving the nation's competitiveness could be achieved by either upgrading existing products to be more competitive or developing new S-curve industries or domestic technology.
New technology producers should be attracted for investment to establish production bases in the country, said Mr Pichai.
He said he believes what investors want from Thailand is confirmation that it can produce clean energy, which is needed for new technology production.
Aside from enhancing competitiveness, Mr Pichai said Thailand needs to utilise its geographical advantage, situated between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.
While Thailand cannot compete with China in terms of manufacturing, it can serve as a middleman or land bridge for goods produced in China, offering a new transport option, he said.