OPINION

Income traps

Re: "Is the middle-income trap real", (Opinion, Dec 31).

According to Keun Lee, the middle-income trap refers to the tendency of developing country economies to lose steam once they approach high-income status.

Chile, for example, was recently classified by the World Bank as having achieved high-income status, since its Gross National Income (GNI) has surpassed the US$13,000 (448,000 baht) threshold, or over 20% of the American level.

But Mr Lee points out that a country such as Malaysia is still considered a middle-income nation, because it has a GNI of only about $12,000, even though its Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) level is 45% that of the American one, and quite a bit higher than that of Chile; and the same thing goes for Turkey, which has a GDP per capita of over 50% that of the US when its purchasing power is measured, but a GNI less than Chile's.

Hence, Mr Lee stresses that a better way of measuring whether a country has achieved high-income status is by measuring its Purchasing Power Parity levels. Under this measure, both Malaysia and Turkey have income levels higher than that of Chile or even Mexico.

Perhaps it's the World Bank's approach to measuring what constitutes "high income" which keeps countries such as Thailand in the middle-income bracket, rather than actual income levels themself.

Outmoded drug

Re: "WHO backs facility for Efavirenz", (BP, Jan 5).

Efavirenz has been an integral part of a combination of drugs used to prevent and treat HIV for decades.

Efavirenz was approved for medical use in 1998 and as of 2016 has been available as a generic medication. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization product costs 180 baht per bottle and has been in production since it was approved by the WHO in 2018.

The achievement, which is insignificant, is that Efavirenz is now listed on the WHO's "prequalified list" in Thailand.

Yet Efavirenz is no longer the drug of choice and has been replaced by Dolutegravir due to its many advantages, including a higher genetic barrier to viral resistance and lower cost to manufacture as a generic drug.

GPO director Mingkwan Suphanpong should be announcing that due to aggressive negotiations with the UN's Medicines Patent Pool and the patent holder, the production of generic Dolutegravir will begin in Thailand.

Traffic ticket chaos

Re: "Unchecked chaos", (PostBag, Jan 4) & "DLT to issue tax stickers at court's order", (BP, Dec 21).

We should all be worried by the Central Administrative Court decision last month that basically said there will be no repercussions or punishment if one receives a traffic violation ticket and decides to ignore it, as it has no bearing on upcoming car registration renewal.

So I think that from now on, if I receive one, whether by mail or at checkpoints, I will just ask the policeman to issue me a ticket which I could just ignore and throw in the bin. Enforcement is already tenuous at best, but this ruling just made it worse. Is this how it's supposed to be?

Such a pity for the hardworking police actively doing their jobs properly.

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