Thailand Central Bank Sees GDP growth at 1.5% in 2014

BANGKOK, August 3 (TNA) - Bank of Thailand (BoT) governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul has reiterated that Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014 would stand at 1.5 per cent due to local political unrest in the beginning of the year, the country’s poor exports and political turbulence in the Middle East. Thailand’s economy during the first half of this year contracted due to local political turbulence, poor exports while growth in the third and fourth quarters must expand at the average of between 3 - 4 per cent in order to achieve targeted growth for the entire year, said Mr. Prasarn. “It’s impossible (for Thailand) to achieve more than 2 per cent growth. In order to reach this amount of growth, economy in the second half of this year has to expand abnormally and this has never happened in Thailand, except in 2011 when the construction industry grew tremendously as people had to repair their houses following the severe flood,” said Mr. Prasarn. On this year’s exports, he said they could grow less than 3 per cent because the private sector curtailed production during the first half of the year. Goods production during the second half of 2014 is expected to improve, he said. But risks could persist because of lesser demand by the US and Europe while ongoing political unrest in the Middle East could affect their economies which are Thailand’s trading partners. Mr. Prasarn forecasts that Thailand’s economy in 2015 could expand to approximately 5.5 per cent because of expected improved of state spending and domestic consumption. High expectations that a new, provisional government could be formed in Thailand this September could help boost foreign investment in the country, he added. (TNA)