[8] The global economic crisis had a major impact on Thailand, with unemployment increasing by 63% to 880,000 people nationwide between December 2008 and January 2009, and analysts predicting the country's economy could contract by as much as 5% on the year.

[16] Abhisit continued the Surayud junta's policy of compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals, saying that it complied with the World Trade Organization's agreement on intellectual property.

In April 2011, he made the free-electricity policy permanent, although industrial and commercial electricity users (rather than the government) were now burdened with paying for the 12 billion baht per year subsidy.

His claim was contradicted by Deep South Watch, an academic think-tank at the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani Province, which showed that violence actually increased since the beginning of the 2009.

[42] In January 2009, CNN investigations revealed that up to 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar had been captured by the Thai Navy, beaten, then towed out to sea without engines or navigational aids and with little food and water.

Abhisit's initial response was to claim that the media reports were "exaggerated" and that the refugees would "sail on boats without engines or sink their ships so that authorities help them to get onshore."

[43] On 20 January, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) requested that the Thai government provide them access to the 126 surviving boat people in their custody.

[54][55] In October 2008, the PPP/Samak administration allocated 100 million baht[56] to establish a special task-force to step up lèse majesté enforcement, and set up a website where individuals could report violations to the Thai authorities.

Abhisit argued that Thaksin's wealth and corrupt background were at odds with the UDD's largely agrarian and working-class membership and ideologies, and that this hypocrisy undermined red shirt demands for fairer politics led by a less elite government.

[73] Then on 24 October, Abhisit appointed PM's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey and advisor Apirak Kosayothin to lead a committee to deal with the floods.

[79] On 25 October, Democrat Spokesperson Chawanan Intharakoman retracted his earlier denial, claiming that the trip had been planned long in advance and that Abhisit also took the opportunity to meet the President of the Maldives to discuss the floods.

The meeting covered subjects on rule of law, stability and development in border areas, economy and technology cooperation, boosting bilateral trade and investment, promoting tourism, and building a deep-sea port in Dawei, Myanmar workers in Thailand, and internal affairs of both countries.

[84] After a bilateral meeting between Abhisit and Prime Minister Thein Sein, the two premiers agreed to jointly develop a deep-sea port at Dawei, on Myanmar's Andaman Sea coast.

[85] Experts said the port would remove trade barriers and significantly shorten the distance that ships from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have to travel to reach China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

After the first official visit of Abhisit to China, President Hu declared that both of the governments would support each other in diplomatic relations in the region and economics, especially international trading and investment.

Abhisit noted that the transportation system that links the northern part of Thailand and China would be developed within a few years in order to strengthen relationship between Thai and Chinese.

The plan also calls for high-speed routes connecting Nong Khai to Bangkok and then eastwards to the industrially-driven Thai eastern seaboard, with a third line linking the capital to the country's southern region near the Malaysian border at Padang Basar.

Suwit Khunkitti, head of the Thai delegation to UNESCO, claimed that following the withdrawal, the World Heritage Committee could no longer force Thailand to comply with its decisions.

The CMC's investigation found that a Thai cluster bomb had killed two Cambodian policemen during the February clashes and warned that thousands of people remained at risk from unexploded bomblets in several villages along the border.

The "sensitive" case, which had been stalled for 20 years due to concerns that some powerful Thais would be implicated in a public investigation, had caused a severe strain on Thai-Saudi relations.

[130] Abhisit declared a state of emergency for Bangkok and surrounding areas due to heightened escalation of tension and denounced the anti-government protesters as "national enemies".

[137] In the pre-dawn of Monday 13 April, army soldiers cleared protesters blocking the main roads from the Din Daeng intersection near Victory Monument in central Bangkok.

[148] Standard & Poor's lowered Thailand's local currency rating to "A−" from "A", although Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij claimed this would increase the government's borrowing cost minimally.

[151] On 7 February 2010, Abhisit's spokesperson compared UDD leaders to "dogs" and vowed to use the National Telecommunications Commission to crack down on red shirt community radio stations.

When the interviewer noted that the airport sieges ended just two weeks before Abhisit came to power, he claimed that "I have summoned the police chief and expressed my concern that the case is ruling slowly and they have made some progress.

[190] June by-elections in Sakon Nakhon were expected to be a shoo-in for the government-member Bhum Jai Thai Party due to its control over the powerful Ministry of Interior.

[194] Bail was immediately revoked for opposition leaders Jatuporn Prompan and Nisit Sinthuprai for allegedly violating national security and insulting King Bhumibol after they were released from jail.

Banlu's committee's findings included: bribery by a supplier of ambulances; irregularities in the purchase of UV fans; overspending on construction of building; inflated prices for machines and equipment.

Abhisit replied to the accusations by suggesting that the "alleged malpractice might have originated during the period when the office was in charge of managing small, medium, and large (SML) enterprises….

Prachai was the founder of failed petrochemical firm TPI Polene (which was under rehabilitation under the Financial Institutions Development Fund) as well as advertising shell companies Messiah Business and Creation.