DPM:Thailand's stable politics will stimulate national economy

BANGKOK, May 22 (TNA) - A quick formation of the newly-elected Thai government and the stable Thai politics should stimulate the national economy in the second half of this year. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who oversees economic affairs, voiced the assessment in Bangkok on May 21, reasoning that many investment projects, planned by government agencies and state enterprises, have been set to be implemented after the newly-elected Thai administration takes office in mid-2019. Somkid told journalists that the domestic tourism is viewed as another major factor to stimulate Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) in the second half of this year. The deputy premier said he has, thus, ordered the state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to work out and launch additional campaigns to promote the domestic tourism, suggesting that measures to encourage expanding domestic trips by people in the country be also implemented. The deputy prime minister made the remarks in response to a latest report by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) that Thailand's GDP in the first quarter of 2019 grew less than its earlier target, by only 2.8 per cent year-on-year, and that the country's GDP should expand by about 3.6 per cent year-on-year on average in 2019. Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Kasikorn Research Center (KResearch) pointed out that the country's lower GDP growth, at 2.8 per cent year-on-year, in the first three months of this year, touching its bottom line in 17 quarters, was caused mainly by a shrink in Thai exports due to negative impacts from the escalating trade war between the United States and China and a global economic slowdown consequently. The Thai central bank and the Bangkok-based leading private think tank also acknowledged similarly that the domestic consumption and private investment kept growing, at 4.6 per cent year-on-year and 4.4 per cent year-on-year respectively, and helped driving forward the national economy in the first quarter of this year. The KResearch projected, however, that Thailand's GDP should grow by about 3.7 per cent year-on-year on average in 2019, while the BOT announced that it will release a new report on its revised projection of the country's GDP growth on average in 2019 after the next meeting of its Monentary Policy Committee (MPC), set on June 26. (TNA)