after the Asian Financial Crisis) four years ahead of schedule. These policies have made Thaksin Shinawatra popular. After an unprecedented four years as Prime Minister, his populist Thai Rak Thai party won a landslide victory in the February 2005 elections, winning 374 out of 500 seats in Parliament. This was the largest number of parliamentary seats ever gained by a single party in Thailand's history. Critics of Thaksinomics claim that Thaksin's economic policies amount to little more than traditional Keynesian fiscal stimulus policies rebranded as a revolutionary economic doctrine. They argue that, contrary to the claims of Thaksinomics's advocates, Thailand's economy was actually driven by rising export demand, while domestic consumer demand has grown only modestly at best since Thaksin became Prime Minister. Skeptics also note that under Thaksin's policy of pushing state-owned banks to increase loans to poor farmers, consumer indebtedness has risen dramatically. They state that the banks often made loans without proper due diligence to people who had little means to repay the loans. Thaksin's supporters often counter by pointing out that the percentage of non-performing loans in the banking system has fallen during his administration. Thaksinomics in practice By 2001, the currency had appreciated to an export-friendly level, and the economy had fully recovered from the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The strong performance of the Thai economy beginning in 2002 was the immediate impact of Thaksinomics. In 2002, Thailand posted GDP growth of 5.3%, the fastest rate since 1996. The economy grew by another 7.1% in 2003. In 2004, in spite of a volatile external environment and rising oil prices, Thailand still managed a GDP growth rate of 6.3%. Since 2005, however, there has been considerable controversy concerning Thaksinomics. Although the reelection of Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party in an unprecedented landslide in February demonstrated the widespread popularity of his policies, slower economic growth (4.5% in 2005), has given ammunition to critics of Thaksinomics. Thaksin's supporters argue that the economic slowdown is largely a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and rising oil prices and inflation. But others point out that consumer indebtedness and trade deficits plagued the Thai economy in 2005, as a direct result of Thaksin's policies. Thaksin was forced into an embarrassing retreat in July 2005 when the trade deficit and public debt caused the government to abandon its transportation vehicle fuel price subsidy. Corruption allegations stemming from