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Bangkok Declares a Holiday and Sends Civil Servants Home as 15,000 Delegates Arrive for the First IMF–World Bank Meetings in Thailand Since 1991

Thailand’s cabinet made Oct. 16 a special holiday in the capital and told government staff to work from home on three other days to clear traffic and tighten security around the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, where finance ministers and central bankers from about 190 countries — including Africa’s — meet through Oct. 18.

The Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok
The Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, venue of the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings, photographed on July 8, 2023. (File photo)Jonashtand / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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